Shattering Secrets
by DianneRose2016
Summary: Sweets has a past that no one expected. When a case comes up that brings Sweets' past to the team they are about to find out that their Psychologist is much more than they ever expected him to be. Booth is rocked by an even bigger secret from Sweets' past that he never expected. With this new information Booth is determined to not only keep Sweets alive and finally start living.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: So I know not many people read Sweets fanfiction, but that doesn't stop me from writing it. This one was originally going to be just a Oneshot and then I got an idea and this would be perfect for it. There is only one change in the plot and that is that Sweets was never adopted. He stayed in foster homes so he has no family and never has.**_

 _ **Summary: Sweets has a past that no one expected. When a case comes up that brings Sweets' past to the team they are about to find out that their Psychologist is much more than they ever expected him to be. Booth and Sweets grow closer and Booth is rocked by an even bigger secret from Sweets' past that he never expected. With this new information Booth is determined to not only keep Sweets alive, but to show him how to live.**_

 _ **Warnings: Violence, Swear Words, Mentions of Child Abuse, Dead Bodies and Case Talk.**_

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Chapter 1

It was an early Wednesday afternoon when Booth headed towards Sweets' office. They had gotten a call yesterday for a set of remains and Bones had determined that the victim, thirty-eight year old Jennifer Moore, had been killed twenty years ago. Booth was hoping that Sweets would be able to give them a profile of what the killer would be like now so they could use it against the people that their victim knew twenty years ago. Booth didn't really like Sweets too much, but he had to admit he was very good at what he does. He had done a few profiles for them in the past year that they had known him and they have been helpful in pointing them in the right direction. Things had gotten tense just a month ago when they thought he was the apprentice of the Gormogon, only for it to turn out to be Zak. The last person Booth or any of them would ever suspect, including Sweets. Even after how Booth and Bones had treated him, had even threatened to put him in a holding cell, he still came to the hospital to see how Zak was doing and everyone was handling the situation. They had all been distant from him since then and he knew that the others hadn't really spoken to Sweets much. They all had hoped that it was Sweets that was the apprentice and not Zak. Now that they had all accused him and Booth and Bones had all but arrested him things around Sweets were awkward. They still both had to do sessions with him and when they were stuck he would help them out on a case, but it was clear that Sweets was keeping himself closed off from them. Booth could understand, he would have a trust problem too if two people he worked with had thought of him as an apprentice to a serial killer. The trust had been broken and they hadn't even truly begun to repair that damage. Booth was hoping he could try and repair the damage. It didn't matter that he didn't really like Sweets all that much, Sweets was now in their life and that made him one of his people and he always looked out for his people. He didn't like everyone at the Jeffersonian at first either, but now he had gotten to know them he didn't want to see any harm come to them.

With a determination to set things right Booth had headed to Sweets' office to get him on board with the case and maybe get the trust built up again. Booth walked by Sweets' receptionist and he was about to go in when she spoke.

"Agent Booth, you can't go in there he's in session right now with a fellow Agent." Melissa said calmly.

"Do you know how much longer he'll be?"

"About five minutes if you want to wait."

"Do you know when the last time he had any coffee was?"

"This morning when he came in." Melissa answered with confusion clear in her voice.

"I'll be back then."

Booth headed into the break room to grab himself and Sweets a cup of coffee. He had never done this before, but he knew that Sweets took it black from seeing him ordering it in the dinner. He figured it would be a good peace offering. With the coffee poured he headed back to Sweets' office to see Agent Anderson standing there looking pissed.

"Agent Anderson is everything alright?" Booth asked causally.

"No everything is not alright. What are you here for? Did he screw up one of your cases too?" Anderson asked with seething anger.

"Um no. Sweets is never wrong with his profiles. What happened?" Booth asked not liking how angry the agent was.

"I closed off on a case, even had my suspect arrested all I needed to wait for was for Hacker to sign it off so I could ship her off to jail and Sweets says I got the wrong person. Now all of a sudden she is being released and I'm being ordered to reinvestigate. I got the killer, but the child seems to think he knows more than me. He let a killer go free." Agent Anderson said with anger.

Booth was about to comment when another angry voice broke out from the office as the door was thrown open. Agent Richards stood there with his back to them as he yelled at Sweets who was sitting down in his usual chair.

"You are nothing but a child. You don't know what it is like being out there in the field actually doing something. You think because you sit here all day that you know what it's like to be an Agent. What it's like to have your life on the line. I did everything I was supposed to and now I have to listen to you, I don't think so. There is no way I am letting some little child tell me how I am supposed to live my life when you have no idea what life is truly like. You don't get to take my gun from me you little shit."

"Agent Richards I am just doing my job. Assistant Director Hacker told me to evaluate you after the incident. You are on suspension until I give the all clear one way or the other. Working against me is not going to help you. I'm not looking to take your gun or your badge, but you are not in any state of mind to be working. I'm not going to sign off on your being placed back on duty for you to get someone killed. I suggest you take it up to Assistant Director Hacker if you have such a problem with it. My hands are tied." Sweets said calmly, but Booth could hear the anger and frustration at the situation.

"Why don't you go back and play in the sandbox with the rest of the children and leave the real work to the grown-ups. Before you end up under it." Agent Richards seethed.

"Enough Agent." Booth said now making his presence known to both Agent Richards and Sweets who didn't see him past Agent Richards.

Agent Richards turned to see Booth and Anderson standing there.

"Booth." Agent Richards started, but Booth cut him off.

"You are on suspension from what I have been told Agent. I suggest you get out of here and go back home before I consider taking that death threat seriously and locking you up myself. Get out of here." Booth said with authority to his voice.

"You're defending this kid now?" Agent Richards asked with disgust to his voice.

"That kid has a higher IQ than all of us in this entire building and more education. If you were smart you would listen to him so you could get back to work, which is what he wants as well. He's not here to take anyone's badge from them and he will do everything he can to prevent it. If I hear about another death threat towards him from you it'll be me that takes your badge and not him. Now get the hell out of the building." Booth said with anger.

Agent Richards just gave Sweets one last dirty glare before he pushed past Booth and a smirking Agent Anderson clearly happy that Sweets was getting problems from another Agent. Agent Anderson pushed past Booth and went into the room and Sweets looked at the Agent already having a feeling this wasn't going to go over well either.

"You let my killer go free. I had the case wrapped up and you let my killer go free. What right do you have to question my arrests?" Agent Anderson said with his own anger.

"Assistant Director Hacker asked me to look into the case. He brought it to me, because he had questions. You arrested the wrong person and he agreed with me. He's not about to let an innocent person go to jail. The case is open and he expects you to find the killer. I added my profile into the case for you to use." Sweets said calmly.

"I had the killer and you let her walk."

"Your killer is male. You arrested a female with no motives or access to the cause of death." Sweets argued back.

"Stop trying to do my job. You're not an agent just some shrink playing dress up."

"I'm doing my job and if you had done yours correctly I wouldn't have to stop you from putting an innocent woman in jail. Take it up with Hacker if you're that bothered by it. Now I have work to do so please leave." Sweets said clearly annoyed.

"This isn't over." Agent Anderson said as he headed out of the office.

Booth went and closed the door as Sweets spoke.

"Anything you'd like to yell at me about?" Sweets asked and Booth could hear the hurt and exhaustion in his voice.

"I brought you coffee." Booth said as he went over and handed it to Sweets who was still sitting in his chair.

"You never bring me coffee." Sweets said skeptically as he took the mug and held it in his hands and let the heat warm him up.

Booth sat down on the couch and put the case folder on the table.

"I was getting some so I got you some at the same time. You alright?" Booth asked with concern as he could see that Sweets wasn't looking too good. He was hiding it well, but Booth had a son and he could see the signs of sickness in someone pretty well.

"What that? Just another day at the office. If I had a quarter every time someone yelled at me I would be rich." Sweets tried to joke lightly.

"We'll get to that, but I meant you look sick or run down." Booth said casually trying to hide the concern in his voice.

"I'm fine just tired. Hacker has me doing some extra work and it's a lot of work plus everything else I have to do during the day. I think I have a head cold I just need some sleep and I'll be fine." Sweets said shrugging it off.

"Maybe you should take the day off tomorrow and get some sleep. Or work from home or something."

"Ya I might do that. What brought you by?" Sweets asked as he sat back in his chair and Booth could see he was sick with more than a head cold.

"Oh you're not getting away with it that easily. What the hell was all of that about?"

"I can't tell you about my patients Agent Booth. As for Agent Anderson he arrested a female that he believes is the killer when it was in fact a male. The woman he suspects has no motive or access to the poison that was used to kill her ex-husband."

"Well dead ex-husband usually makes us suspect the ex-wife first." Booth started

"And I would normally agree only they weren't the typical divorce couple. She filed for divorce and both agreed to it. He allowed her to have the house and the car. They worked at the same company and he willingly left it so she could stay there. He found a better job and agreed to pay two grand a month in alimony until she got married again. She started to date another man and he is even dating a man, which is the reason for the divorce. The ex-wife is perfectly fine with it they all go on double dates together even. She was heartbroken when she found out he had been killed and her grief was honest."

"Even if she was lying about being okay with her ex-husband being gay there doesn't seem like a reason for motive in there. She's getting money by him being alive not dead. How was he killed?"

"He was poisoned with a chemical that is only used in high end auto shops. Chemicals that she doesn't have access to and nor does her boyfriend or his boyfriend. There was bruising on his mouth suggesting that the killer held him down and forced the chemicals down his throat. Not something a hundred pound female could do against a one hundred and eighty pound man. So you can see why Hacker had some trouble with the arrest and he asked me to double check."

"Maybe the new boyfriend of the victim has an ex-boyfriend that isn't happy about him moving on." Booth suggested.

"And that is what I suggested in my profile. Hacker let the woman go with a long apology. Hacker has me doing all of the Agent evaluations this year and I have to go through all of their cases in the last ten years and see what ones they received a guilty verdict for. Apparently, there has been an increase in cases turning cold. The Agent arrests the wrong suspect, the case goes to trial and a not guilty verdict is found. The case then is supposed to go back to the original Agent, but the Agent doesn't continue it and it turns to a cold case. There has been a twenty percent increase in cold cases just this year and Hacker is not happy about it nor are his bosses I'm assuming."

"That's a lot of work on you though Sweets plus you have your own patients and profiles for other Agents. No wonder you are tired." Booth said sympathetically.

"It'll be fine it's only for a little while plus I can do it from home on the weekends. What brought you by? Did you need something?"

"Ya, but don't worry about it, you've got enough to deal with." Booth said feeling guilty that he would be adding on to Sweets' work.

"No it's fine I don't mind helping you out. Your cases are usually pretty extreme on the killing meter. What's up?"

"Are you sure?"

"It's fine. What's the case?"

"Twenty year old murder. Victim was found yesterday and the cause of death Bones believes is blunt force trauma. I was hoping you might be able to figure out a profile of what the killer was like twenty years ago and maybe what they might be like now so we can compare the potential suspect."

"Sure I can do that. I'll call you when I have it for you."

"Thanks Sweets." Booth stood up from the couch and headed for the door. Before he opened it he turned and spoke one last time. "You know Sweets don't worry about what other Agents might say. You do an amazing job and I know all you want to do is help people. Screw them if they have a problem with it."

"Thanks Agent Booth." Sweets said sincerely.

Booth gave a nod and headed out of the office and back towards his own. He had other cases he could be working so he was going to do that until they had more on this current case.

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The next day Booth and Bones headed into Sweets' office. Booth had received a text from Sweets saying that he had their profile for them when he was over at the Jeffersonian. Him and Bones decided to go together in case it lead to a suspect. When they arrived Booth knocked on the door before he walked in to see that Sweets was sitting at his chair with files and papers all over the table and the floor. He was clearly busy and overworked, but they both knew that Sweets wouldn't take a break for himself. Sweets looked up as Booth and Bones walked into the room and they could both clearly see he was tired and not feeling well. He looked like he had a fever and he didn't look this sick yesterday when Booth had seen him.

"Dr. Sweets you look horrible." Bones said as she went over to Sweets and placed her hand against his forehead.

Sweets moved his head back, but Bones just moved her hand with him.

"Sweets what are you doing at work? You should be in bed." Booth said calmly.

"You have a fever." Bones said as she moved her hand back.

"I know. I was going to stay home, but I just came in to get some files to work on later when this got dropped into my lap." Sweets said with a hoarse voice before he started to cough. The cough was deep and it didn't sound like a normal one from a cold.

"Have you been to a doctor?" Bones asked clearly worried about the cough.

"No I just woke up sick." Sweets said with a tired voice.

"You weren't feeling great yesterday either though Sweets." Booth said.

"It's just a cold I'll be fine." Sweets said in a dismissive tone.

"Colds don't give you a fever. A fever indicates an infection and based on that cough you could have a chest infection. You should get it looked at Sweets." Bones said.

"I'll make an appointment with the doctor and I'll go I promise. I have your profile for you." Sweets said hoping work would make them drop the subject.

Booth and Bones sat down on the couch and Sweets handed them the file.

"There are four profiles in here though? Why both sexes?" Bones asked.

"Because without knowing what instrument was used to kill the victim I can't narrow it down any further. I gave you four profiles two for each gender of what they were like twenty years ago and what they would be like now." Sweets explained.

"You're usually better than this. Why can't you narrow it down more?" Bones asked.

"Because of the weapon. If the weapon was heavy it could have done more damage with having to use less strength so a woman could have killed our vic. If the weapon was something like a pipe and needed strength behind it to cause the level of damage it would mean a man did it." Booth explained.

"Exactly." Sweets said.

"So we need to get Hodgins working on the type of instrument that was used to kill our victim so we can know which gender killed our victim. Understandable." Bones said.

"Now what the hell is all of this?" Booth asked as he opened his arms to indicate the paper mess everywhere.

"Early this morning an Agent caught a missing child case. He sent me all of the suspects and information on the child to try and narrow down who may have taken her. She's only five. I told him I would look into it and see what I could narrow down for him."

"You should be at home resting Sweets." Bones said.

"I will when I'm done here. Is there anything else you guys needed?" Sweets asked looking to get back to work.

"No that was it. Let me know if you need any help eh?" Booth said as he got up from the couch.

"Ya sure." Sweets said and Booth knew he was just saying it to make Booth feel better.

"Feel better Sweets." Bones said as she got up from the couch and they both headed out of the office.

Booth and Bones headed to Booth's office. Once inside Bones spoke.

"He doesn't look well Booth. He should be at home resting and seeing a doctor about that cough."

"I know Bones, but sometimes cases come up and just like we have to Sweets has to push through. He'll probably stay home tomorrow and I'll go by and check in on him if that makes you feel better."

"Why that would make me feel better I have no idea, but I appreciate the offer. I don't know his living conditions he might live with his parents." Bones said.

"Why would he be living with his parents?"

"He's a millennial, according to Dr. Hodgins that is what they do, they live at home until they are thirty. Dr. Sweets is only recently twenty-three."

"Ok I don't think he lives with his parents, but I'll still go and check in on him. Let's go and run some of the names from our vic's past with the profile and see if any fit it." Booth suggested as he grabbed the file and they headed out.

Booth looked at the closed door to Sweets' office and he hoped that Sweets would feel better tomorrow or at least take the time off that he needed to get better. Booth didn't know anything about Sweets' personal life, but he was hoping that he had a support system to be there for him to help him get through the cases they see. Booth figured he could check in on Sweets tomorrow and if he wasn't in the office he could get his address easily enough from his receptionist to go and check in on him there.

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It was nine o'clock at night and Sweets was finally packing up to go home. He was feeling even weaker and his cough had gotten worse. He decided to take extra files home with him so he could work on some tomorrow and just in case he grabbed the box for the Agent's evaluations so he could bring them home in case he spent the next three days in his apartment trying to recover. He could go to the doctor's tomorrow and see if he had an infection. Sweets grabbed the box and his briefcase and he headed out of the office and down to the parking garage. He put the box in his back seat as well as his briefcase. He closed the door and that's when he was grabbed from behind. There was a tight hand wrapped around his neck chocking him. He squirmed and fought to get out of his attacker's grasped, but he was only dragged further into the darkness. He was all too soon surrounded by three other men all in black ski masks and still being chocked by the other one behind him. The one in the middle walked forward and Sweets could see that he was pure muscle and he wasn't a small man. Sweets tried to get the man off from him, but it only resulted in the hand gripping his throat even tighter. Making it even harder for him to breathe. Sweets brought his hands up to the hand that was wrapped around his throat. The man that was to the left of Sweets didn't like it so he came up towards Sweets and he grabbed both of his hands and twisted them hard and Sweets would have screamed at the pain if he could have gotten a breath. The man used a pair of handcuffs and maneuvered around the man behind him to tightly cuff his hands behind his back. Sweets knew that the cuffs were too tight and it was cutting into his wrists and making his hands tingle and blood starting to come through.

The man in front then spoke.

"You think you're so smart. Let's see how smart you are when we are finished with you." The man said with a dark anger to his voice.

The man then punched Sweets as hard as he could across his face. The blow made his head snap to the right, but it caused the hand around his throat to tighten even more. The man didn't care as he threw another hard punch to his face and then torso. After a good ten punches the man stepped back and the man to the right of him approached with a crowbar in his hand. He swung and hit Sweets to his right side and Sweets could have sworn he felt his ribs crack. The assault continued and even when he couldn't stand up anymore they continued to rain attacks onto him. Eventually the man holding him up by his throat threw Sweets to the ground and they all began to punch and hit him with the crowbar relentlessly. They all called him derogatory words that hurt more than the actual blows. He felt bones breaking and he felt his right wrist slowly breaking from the blows and how he was positioned on the ground. Sweets felt the darkness creeping up on him and when he thought he was going to finally pass out the attack was over. He could feel one of them removing the cuffs from him and with one last kick to his stomach they left him there on the cold and dirty ground bleeding and in a ball of pain.

Sweets couldn't even think straight. He didn't even know what the hell he was supposed to be doing right now. All he could feel was pain, complete and utter pain throughout his body. His mind was foggy with pain and he was so dizzy he could barely see. He knew he couldn't pass out right here or he could be in serious trouble. He had to get up and get to the hospital, but the thought of driving made him even dizzier. Sweets knew he wouldn't be able to drive himself to the hospital as he didn't know what was completely wrong with him. He was in no condition to be driving, but he couldn't call a friend either, because he didn't have any. He had just moved to D.C when the F.B.I. offered him the job to work for them. He didn't really have any friends and he had no family. Sweets started to try and sit up, but as he did the world spun and he fell back onto the dirty and cold ground. Sweets knew he had to do something, but he really didn't want the attention of an ambulance. Sweets carefully moved his left hand to his pocket were his cell phone was. He slowly got it out and he dialed Booth's number. He had noticed on the way to his car that Booth's SUV was still here so he knew that Booth wouldn't take long to come down to him. After three rings Booth answered.

"Agent Booth."

"Booth." Sweets voice was hoarse and it croaked out.

"Sweets? Are you ok?" Booth asked with concern at the sound of Sweets' voice.

"I need help." Sweets said before he went into a coughing fit that caused his whole body to be wracked with pain.

"Sweets where are you?" Booth asked already grabbing his jacket and keys heading out of his office.

"Parking lot, my car."

"You're downstairs?" Booth asked as he hit the button for the elevator.

"Ya" Sweets said weakly and he was losing the battle to stay awake.

"Sweets I'm on my way stay with me." Booth said as he got onto the elevator and hit the parking lot button.

Sweets let out a groan of pain before he passed out and the hand with the phone in it hit the ground.

"Sweets? Sweets?" Booth didn't get a reply and he instantly cursed as he looked up at the numbers going lower and lower.

He ended the call and put his cell phone back into his pocket and waited for the elevator to finally reach the parking lot. Once it did Booth was out of the elevator before the door was even open all of the way. He ran to where Sweets always parked his car as he had a reserved parking space just like the rest of them. Booth instantly thought that Sweets was sicker than they all thought and he had passed out. He had no idea that he was going to be finding something else. He finally arrived at Sweets' car and he noticed that Sweets wasn't in his car.

"Sweets!" Booth called out as he looked around trying to see if he could find him.

He saw the light from the cell phone screen over closer to the wall in the darker part of the parking lot. Booth went over to the light and he was able to make out Sweets' body on the ground. Booth ran over to him and he bent down. He pulled out his cell phone and used it as his light and he was able to see the mess that was Sweets. His face was covered in blood and his clothes were bloody as well.

"Sweets!" Booth called out hoping to get Sweets to gain consciousness. He gently touched Sweets' shoulder and Sweets let out a groan.

"That's it come on Sweets wake up for me."

Sweets opened his right eye and Booth could tell that his left eye was swollen shut.

"Stay with me Sweets. We need to get you to a hospital. Where are your keys?" Booth asked with a controlled voice, but the worry was clearly in it.

"Car" Sweets said weakly.

Booth got up and went over to Sweets' car and he opened the back door. He moved the box off the back seat and put it on the floor. He then saw that the keys were sitting on the driver's seat that Sweets must have just tossed down when he put the box in the back seat. Booth then went back over to Sweets and spoke.

"I'm gonna get you up and into your back seat. We need to get you to a hospital Sweets."

Sweets just gave a groan and Booth bent down and picked up Sweets under his arms to help get him up. The muffled scream didn't go unnoticed by Booth.

"I'm sorry Sweets just hang on." Booth said apologetically.

They got over to the car and Booth got Sweets down on the back seat. He closed the door and got into the driver seat and turned the car on. He then took off for the hospital as fast as he could. Sweets' car didn't have any lights or sirens because he wasn't a Field Agent. Booth was careful not to go too fast, but he didn't drive the speed limit either given the state that Sweets was in. They arrived at the hospital in record time. Booth pulled into the emergency entrance and he got out of the car and opened the back door. He was able to see Sweets' injuries more now that there was the bright lights of the emergency entrance and he couldn't believe how beat up he was. There was even bruising around his neck in the shape of a hand.

"Come on Sweets let's get you inside." Booth said gently.

Booth was able to get Sweets up and out of the car, but the movement caused Sweets to be shaking from the pain.

"I know it hurts, but we just need to get you inside. Hang on Sweets." Booth said gently as they walked into the entrance. "I need help!" Booth yelled as they walked inside.

A nurse came running over to him and she saw the condition that Sweets was in and immediately yelled for help and a stretcher. Another nurse and emergency room doctor came over to them with a stretcher. Booth got Sweets down on the stretcher and he followed them as they pushed Sweets into an examination room.

"Do you know what happened?" The doctor asked.

"No but I intend to find out." Booth said with seething anger.

Booth watched as the doctor went over to Sweets who was still awake and moving around on the bed. The nurses were trying to get him to stay still but he was having a hard time listening. He hated being in hospitals and it always brought up painful memories from growing up. He could feel the panic rising up in him and when a nurse came over to remove his jacket he didn't even think he just pushed her away. This caught Booth's attention and he went over to try and calm Sweets down.

"Sweets calm down it's okay. The nurse is just trying to help. Calm down." Booth said trying to offer some comfort to Sweets. He thought he was just disorientated from being hit in the head.

"Everyone back off him and give him some room." The doctor said recognizing the signs.

The nurses backed up and so did Booth.

"What's his name?" The doctor asked Booth.

"Dr. Lance Sweets."

The doctor went over to Sweets and spoke in a calm voice.

"Dr. Sweets, my name is Dr. Wells I am a doctor here at Memorial Hospital. You were attacked. It's alright, you are safe here. I need to examine you and run some tests. I can go as slow as you need me to. I just need you to relax so we can get your jacket and shirt off. I need you to take a breath and then we will begin."

"Sir I need you to wait out in the waiting room please. I have some paperwork you can fill out." A nurse said to Booth.

"No I'm not leaving him." Booth said with anger.

"Sir please we need you out of the room so we can examine him." The nurse said again as she got Booth out of the room and she closed the door behind them. She led them over to the desk so Booth could fill out some basic information.

"I'm sorry about Sweets. He never acts that way. He must be confused from the injuries." Booth said on Sweets' behalf.

"It's alright it's happened before. A lot of adults have bad reactions to hospitals. It happens when they have experienced too much of a hospital when they are a child." The nurse said calmly.

"A child?" Booth asked getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Child abuse isn't over when the individual is no longer a child. It carries over into adulthood. Your friend's reaction to my friend touching him was perfectly normal and instinctual. A child always tries to hide their injuries no matter how severe they are. It's just ingrained into him. It'll be fine don't worry now that we know we can treat him properly. I just need you to fill these out as best as you can. What you don't know we can get him to fill out later."

"Ya sure. Will he have to stay here?"

"That depends on his injuries. Given his anxiety about hospitals if he doesn't need to stay for life threatening reasons then we can let him go home. We'll work quickly and get him examined and some x-rays done and if everything comes back fine Dr. Wells will let him go home. Once you have those completed just have a seat and when we know something we will come and inform you." The nurse said with a smile as she headed back into the room.

Booth stood there shocked at what he had just learnt. The nurse didn't even think twice about it with what she told him. She had no idea that Booth had no idea that Sweets had been a victim of child abuse much like himself. Booth couldn't help, but be amazed, because Sweets didn't come across as someone that had been abused. He had this innocent look to his eyes that made it really easy for someone to forget that he was twenty-three and not sixteen. Booth couldn't help but be hurt by this piece of knowledge. He didn't really know Sweets all that well and they had obviously had problems. Booth wasn't happy that he had to go into therapy and that automatically made him not like Sweets. It didn't help when he found out that he was just twenty-two and he instantly thought that Sweets was naive and wouldn't know anything about life. Now he just found out that Sweets had been abused as a child. Abused enough to make him have anxiety about being in hospitals. It made Booth want to protect him. The protector and father in him was surfacing and he wanted nothing more than to be there for Sweets and then find the bastard who did this to him. Booth took the forms and headed over to a seat to fill them out. He could have called Bones, but he didn't want to do that just in case Sweets didn't want her here. He didn't know how Sweets felt about any of this so he wasn't going to put him into that position. He also didn't know any contact number for his family so that was something that Sweets would have to answer. Booth filled out the forms as best as he could. With them partly filled out he then went to pacing as he waited for when someone would tell him something on Sweets.

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It was just after two in the morning when Dr. Wells finally came towards Booth. Booth went over to the doctor and he was not happy at being kept in the dark for so long.

"How is he?" Booth asked right away.

"He's going to be fine, but he will be in pain for a good two months. He has six broken ribs; four on his right and two on his left. He has a moderate concussion, a broken right wrist, he has cuts on both wrists from what appears to be handcuffs. They were on very tight and cut into his skin rather deeply we used surgical glue to close the cuts and hopefully they won't scar. He also has multiple deep tissue bruising all over his body. His left eye has swollen closed, he has a crack in his jaw on the right side. He has a long cut on the right side at the top of his forehead. He took twenty-five stitches to close it. He has bruising on his left kidney, liver and stomach. He was strangled and that has caused some very deep bruising around his neck and internal bruising on his wind pipe and vocal cords. It will be painful for him to talk and he will get out of breath easier than normal until the bruising is healed. He does not have any internal bleeding. He does however, have pneumonia and I have given him an anti-biotic to take as well as some pain medication."

Booth couldn't believe the level of damage that was done to Sweets. Sweets could be annoying, but that was only because he wanted to talk about feelings and things that were difficult for Booth to do. He wasn't good with feelings or opening up about painful memories. He wanted to forget about that part of his life and Sweets seemed to want him to open up and talk about it. Deep down though, Booth knew that Sweets was a good man and he was just trying to help. Booth never expected for Sweets to ever have been abused as he just didn't act like a typical abuse victim did. He knew tonight that there was a lot more to Sweets then he ever let on and now he was seriously injured.

"Does he have to spend the night?" Booth asked finally.

"Normally he would have to stay here because of the level of injuries that he has. However, he has some serious anxiety about hospitals from childhood experiences and that is making him uneasy and unsettled. He won't even take his bloody clothes off. Given that he could be fine at home if someone was there with him then I would allow that to happen. He needs to be woken up every two hours with the concussion which is why I would like him to stay here or have something there with him just in case something happens and he doesn't wake up. However, he has informed me that he has no parents or family members. I asked about any friends, but he said he didn't have any. Without someone being there with him tonight I need to keep him here. He can't be alone."

"No I'll stay with him. I don't know why he wouldn't have said that I would. I'll stay with him tonight and make sure he is okay." Booth said slightly hurt that Sweets didn't have any family or friends. He was also hurt that Sweets wouldn't consider Booth a friend, but when Booth thought about it he never really gave Sweets a reason to think of him as anything but a fellow Agent.

"If you are willing to stay with him tonight then I don't have a problem with him leaving. He needs to be woken up every two hours and asked a few simple questions like his name and age that type of thing. If he is unable to wake up fully or if he is unable to answer a question you need to bring him back in right away."

"I understand."

"I'll get his discharge papers together. He already has his prescription for the anti-biotic and he has one for pain medication. He's already dressed you can go in there if you wish. It'll only take me a few minutes to get the paperwork together for him to sign."

"Is he in the same room as before?"

"He is."

"I'll be in there with him."

"I'll be there shortly with the papers. He's still has some anxiety and he's shaky so have some patience with him."

"I will I won't push him tonight." Booth said sincerely.

Dr. Wells just gave a nod and he headed over to the nurses' station so he could get the paperwork in order. Booth headed to the examination room where Sweets was being kept. He knocked lightly on the door before he opened it. Sweets was laying on the bed with the back of the bed part way up. He had his legs bent up and he was clearly in pain despite the pain medication going through his body. The bruising had gotten deeper in the past five hours making Sweets covered in black spots. His left eye was swollen shut and his jaw looked painful. His left wrist was wrapped with gauze, his right wrist was in a black brace to help heal his broken wrist. His neck was covered in thick black bruising with a clear imprint of a hand. All in all he looked miserable. Booth went over to Sweet's right side, the side that his eye wasn't swollen shut on. Booth leaned against the side of the bed as he spoke.

"How are you feeling Sweets?" Booth asked gently.

"Fine. Thanks for bringing me here." Sweets said with a soft hoarse voice.

"It's no problem. The doctor is getting your paperwork ready so you can go home."

"Why? He said I couldn't be home alone." Sweets said with confusion in his voice.

"And you won't be alone. I'm gonna stay with you tonight to wake you up and make sure you're alright."

"You don't have to do that. You've done more than enough by bringing me here. I appreciate it."

"Sweets, I know I don't have to spend the night with you. I want to. I'm not about to leave you here in a hospital after being attacked when you don't need to be here. This isn't up for debate I'm going to be with you tonight. The doc is working on getting your paperwork together and then we'll head out of here. I can call Bones in the morning to give me a ride to work."

Sweets just gave an uncomfortable nod to Booth. Booth knew that Sweets was feeling awkward about this situation and he couldn't blame him. He was just starting to see that Sweets wasn't who he thought he was. The professional with confidence in his skills was not lying on this hospital bed. It was a twenty-three year old that had been abused as a child and has now been severely beaten. This man didn't have much confidence and he just looked so lost lying in this hospital bed. The protector and father in Booth was surfacing even more and he had the strong urge to hug Sweets and tell him it would all be okay like he would with Parker after a bad dream. They stayed in silence for a few minutes until the doctor came into the room with the discharge papers.

"Ok Dr. Sweets, I have your paperwork here. You need to be very careful of your ribs for the next few days. You also need to take all of your anti-biotic to get rid of the pneumonia. If you are experiencing an increase in pain or if your breathing gets difficult you need to come back in and we can do some tests." Dr. Wells said in a serious voice.

"Thank-you Dr. Wells." Sweets said as he signed the discharge papers.

"Have a good night and get some rest." Dr. Wells said before he headed out of the room.

"Alright let's get this show on the road. We'll get you back home and in your own bed." Booth said with support in his voice.

Sweets got up off the bed and Booth stood close by him in case he swayed or stumbled. They made a slow progress to the car, but they were able to get there without Sweets falling. Booth waited while Sweets got into the passenger seat before he went over to his side of the car. He got in and saw that Sweets was trying to buckle his seatbelt in.

"Here let me." Booth said gently as he took it from Sweets' banged up hands and clicked the seatbelt in for him. Booth then turned the car on.

"What's your address?" Booth asked.

"1843 Jackson Ave."

Booth pulled out of the hospital and headed off for Sweets' address. He stayed quiet, because he knew that Sweets was hurting and he didn't want to make Sweets' talk. They drove in silence and Booth kept looking over at Sweets to make sure he was alright. He was clearly not alright, but he didn't seem any worse than he was when they left the hospital. They arrived at Sweets' apartment. Booth parked his car on the side of the street. Booth got out and Sweets unbuckled himself before he went and got out of the car. Booth could see that Sweets was in a lot more pain and he put a gentle hand under Sweets' right elbow to help hold him up. Sweets flinched at the touch and Booth did his best not to notice or to feel the tension in Sweets' body at the simple touch. They both headed inside and over to the elevator. Sweets hit the button for his floor and he leaned against the back wall of the elevator. Sweets closed his eyes and tried to get the shakiness and dizziness under control. He was just so exhausted he wanted to sleep for the next week straight.

When they finally arrived on his floor they got off the elevator and made their way down the hallway to his apartment. Sweets took out his keys from his pants pocket and with a shaky hand he unlocked the door and headed inside. Booth followed in behind him and he immediately noticed the state of the apartment. There were papers from cases all over the place and there were books spread out in between it all. The apartment didn't have much in the sense of a personal life. There weren't even any photos on the walls to suggest who Sweets even was.

"Let's get you into your bedroom." Booth said.

Sweets started to walk towards his bedroom. Booth noticed that the apartment wasn't very big. Just a small one bedroom that was barely eight hundred feet. It was small and Booth couldn't help, but feel that it was depressing and lonely here. They got to Sweets' bedroom and it wasn't very big either. The walls were bare of anything personal or professional. They were just a beige color. There was a wooden dresser and a double bed and that is all that would fit into the room. Sweets went over to his dresser and opened a couple of drawers. He pulled out some black sweat pants and a black t-shirt. He then went back over to the bed and sat down with them. He clicked on the small lamp sitting on the small bedside table as he spoke.

"You really don't have to stay I'll be fine Agent Booth." Sweets said and Booth couldn't help but hear the pain and sadness in his voice.

"You need to be woken up every two hours." Booth started.

"I can set my alarm to wake me up. I'll be fine on my own."

"You're used to being on your own eh?" Booth said calmly.

Sweets looked to his right as he kept his head down and away from Booth's questioning eyes.

"Sweets, I'm not going anywhere. I would just be at home worrying about you. So I'm staying." Booth said in a voice that Sweets knew he was going to be stubborn and not let this one go.

"I need to get changed so if you wouldn't mind leaving my room then."

"Look the pants are all yours, but you need help getting that shirt off."

"I'll be fine." Sweets said and Booth could not only hear the panic in his voice, but he could clearly see it.

Booth bent down in front of Sweets and went to help get his suit jacket off.

"Let me help you or you'll make your injuries worse." Booth said with calmness to his voice.

The second Booth touched Sweets' jacket he flinched back and moved away from Booth on the bed closer to his pillows.

"No it's fine I can do it." Sweets said with complete panic and fear.

His shaking had picked up and Booth knew that Sweets truly didn't want Booth to see his injuries or something else. Booth knew he needed to handle this in a different manner.

"Lance, I have been to war, I've been an Agent for almost a decade. I've seen mutilated bodies, I've seen people getting tortured, I've seen them murdered. I've seen some very horrible things in this world. You know my childhood was awful. I have scars from it, I have scars from my time overseas and from being in the Agency. I've seen worse injuries than what you have. There is nothing underneath that shirt that is on you that I haven't seen worse of. Lance, I know you are tired and in pain and you have got to be feeling like shit right now. Let me help you get your shirt changed and then I'll let you get changed out of those pants." Booth said in a voice that he only ever used with his son.

Sweets really didn't want Booth to see his scars, but he also knew that he wasn't going to let this go. Sweets just gave a shaky nod.

"Ok let's get this jacket off first." Booth said calmly.

Booth brought his hands to Sweets' jacket again and he gently got Sweets' jacket off without causing too much movement. Now it was time for the dress shirt. Booth figured the easiest way was to undo the buttons so he could slide the shirt off from his arms. Booth went and started to undo the buttons. Once the buttons were undone he was able to see the bruising on Sweets' stomach and chest. Booth went to the sleeve of the left arm as it didn't have the brace to deal with. He was able to get Sweets' arm out of the sleeve and he only made a small groan at the movement. Booth noticed that Sweets' discomfort was getting worse and his shaking was increasing. Booth didn't understand why Sweets had such a problem with having his shirt off and when Booth saw the back of Sweets' left shoulder he understood why. There were roughly ten scars on his shoulder blade that looked very old. Booth knew that Sweets didn't want him to be seeing it, but it was unavoidable with his shirt being removed. Booth just acted normal and went to get the right arm out of his shirt. To his horror he saw the same scars on his other shoulder blade as well. Booth just ignored it and made sure his face didn't show any hurt or surprise. Booth looked at the level of bruising on Sweets and he felt his rage boiling over.

"Damn Sweets, how big was this guy?"

"There were four and a crowbar." Sweets said with pain and panic still in his voice. Having his shirt off was making him worse.

"Let's get this on." Booth said as he picked up the black t-shirt.

He was able to get it on Sweets without too much pain caused. Once his shirt was on Booth could see the shame all over Sweets' face. The whole time he didn't even look at Booth and he kept his eyes and head down. He looked like an abused dog just waiting to be kicked. It broke a piece of Booth's heart to see him like this.

"I'm going to wait for you outside while you change into your sweats. I'll grab you some water too."

Sweets just gave a nod and Booth headed out of the room and back down to the kitchen. Booth went into the kitchen and he put his hands on the counter and bowed his head. He couldn't get the image of Sweets out of his mind. He was so beat up and he just looked miserable. Booth had never expected for Sweets to ever look like that. He looked like an abused child tonight. The hurt and panic in his eyes were heart breaking. Booth looked around the kitchen and he didn't see anything on the counter in the way of dishes or food. He couldn't help, but open the fridge and he noticed that there was almost no food in it. He then opened the freezer and he saw that there were some frozen one meal dinners in there that reminded Booth of what a college kid would eat. Booth grabbed an ice pack and put it down on the counter. He went over to the cupboards and he noticed that there was no food in them almost either except for coffee and cereal. Booth grabbed a glass and he turned the cold water on. He filled the glass and then grabbed the ice pack before he walked back into the room slowly. He wanted to make sure that Sweets wasn't still changing. He saw that Sweets was putting his suit into the laundry basket in the corner. Sweets went back over to his bed and Booth moved the covers back for Sweets. Sweets sat down onto the bed and he put his left hand against his right side. His ribs were hurting him and he just wanted to be alone so he could curl up in a ball of misery and sleep.

"Here lay down. I brought you some water and an ice pack. It'll help numb your ribs and help with the pain." Booth said gently.

Sweets carefully laid down and Booth gently placed the ice pack against his broken ribs on his right side. Sweets let out a hiss at the cold and pressure of the ice pack.

"I know it hurts right now, but it will get better I promise." Booth said in an apologetic voice.

Sweets just gave a small nod. He still wouldn't look at Booth and Booth didn't know if he should be pushing or not. Booth figured for tonight he would let Sweets sleep and he would be able to talk to him tomorrow.

"Get some sleep. I'll come wake you up in a couple of hours." Booth said as he pulled the covers up over Sweets.

With that done Booth headed back out into the living room. Booth couldn't help, but look around and get the feeling like Sweets' apartment was just a slightly larger version of his office. There were case files everywhere and books all over the place. It looked like Sweets didn't do anything but work. There was a flat screen TV in the corner of the room, but that even had dust on it so it was clear that Sweets hadn't turned it on in a while. Booth couldn't help, but feel depressed in this small apartment. To think that someone lived here was sad, especially when that person was Sweets. They didn't know anything about Sweets, but he didn't come across as someone that would live this way. He presented himself well; he spoke like a highly educated person. Booth knew he was intelligent because he had two doctorates before the age of twenty-two. Booth could honestly say he knew nothing about Sweets. He didn't even know how long he had been working for the F.B.I.

Booth sat down on the couch in a free spot from all of the papers and he forced himself to think. He was trying to figure out how Sweets had gone unnoticed by him. He should have seen the signs that Sweets had been abused. He should have seen the signs that Sweets was all alone. He should have seen the signs that Sweets was working himself to death. Booth tried to think of what he knew about Sweets, but all he knew was what he had experienced at work. He was intelligent, hard-working, a polygraph machine and that was all Booth knew about him. He didn't like Sweets for the longest time, even tonight he could honestly say he never even liked him. But seeing him covered in blood, afraid and in pain on the ground had pulled something out of Booth. He wanted to protect Sweets. Sitting here in this small, depressing apartment made Booth want to drag Sweets out more. He wanted to invite Sweets out for lunch and check in on him. It wasn't healthy for someone to spend so much time at work. It wasn't healthy to be alone all the time. Sweets was a psychologist and from what Booth had been told and seen he was the best in the country, but he clearly had his own problems still as well. Booth had forgotten that Sweets was a person too and not just this annoyance in his life. Sweets had become a member of his team whether they fully accepted him yet or not he was and Booth wasn't going to let Sweets fall deeper into the darkness.

Booth pulled out his cell phone and saw that it was three in the morning. He knew that Angela would be sleeping right now, but he had decided that this was important enough to wake her up. He wanted to see if she could get the video footage from the parking garage and see if they could find Sweets' attack. After five rings a very tired voice answered.

"Mm, hello?" Angela said barely awake.

"Angela I'm sorry to wake you, but I have some urgent work for you."

"What time is it?" Angela said still out of it and Booth could hear shuffling and he knew she was looking at the clock. He could hear Hodgins voice still in the background asking what was going on. "Booth it's three in the morning. What could be so urgent that you had to wake me up?" Angela said clearly annoyed at being woken up.

"Sweets was attacked in the parking garage at the Bureau." Booth said in a serious voice.

"Wait what? Attacked? Is he okay?" Angela asked. She wasn't too happy with Sweets in the last little while, but she knew he was just an easy target for her anger and hurt about Zak. It wasn't his fault and she had been trying to be better towards him.

"He was seriously injured." Booth started, but Angela cut him off.

"Hang on I'm putting you on speaker phone." Angela hit the button and now Hodgins was sitting up in bed as well.

"What the hell is going on?" Hodgins asked not hearing that it was Sweets that had been attacked.

"Sweets was attacked in the parking garage at the Bureau." Angela answered.

"What? Is he okay?" Hodgins asked.

"Not really. Six broken ribs, a broken wrist, moderate concussion. His left eye is swollen shut, there is a crack in his jaw, he's covered in deep tissue bruising. He took twenty-five stitches to his forehead. He has bruising on his left kidney, liver and stomach. He was strangled so hard that it bruised his wind pipe and vocal cords. Both wrists were cut up pretty badly from the handcuffs that were used on him that the doctor had to use surgical glue to close the cuts. His right wrist is broken. He's also got pneumonia to top it all off." Booth said.

"Holy God." Angela said horrified.

"Who the hell attacked him? What hospital is he in?" Hodgins asked horrified that Sweets had taken such a beating.

"He's home right now. I'm here with him. I'll be here until tomorrow sometime. I don't know what happened. He just told me that it was four guys and a crowbar. I was hoping Angela you could go to your office and see if you can find the video footage of the parking garage. His parking spot is G5 and it happened right at his car."

"Ya of course I can do that." Angela said.

"What about his clothes?" Hodgins asked as he was already getting out of bed and getting dressed.

"They are here. Why?" Booth answered.

"I could check them for particulates and see if he got anything from his attackers." Hodgins answered.

"I'll bag his clothes for you." Booth said.

"What's Sweets' address I can come by and pick them up on the way in?" Hodgins asked.

"1843 Jackson Ave apartment 509."

"Ok we'll be there in like thirty and then we'll head to the office and see what we can find out. Did you tell Brennan yet?" Angela asked.

"No I haven't done that yet." Booth said.

"Well you better Dr. B doesn't like being kept in the dark." Hodgins said.

"I know, but I didn't know if she would care too much either. It's hard to tell with her sometimes." Booth said honestly.

"She might not like what Sweets' job is, but she still thinks of him as a good man. She'll want to know that he was attacked. You shouldn't keep this from her." Angela said.

"I'll call her and let her know." Booth said.

"We'll be there in about thirty minutes." Hodgins said.

"See you then." Booth said as he hung up his cell phone.

Booth got up off the couch and quietly headed down the hallway. He looked into the room and saw that Sweets was sound asleep. He quietly headed over to the laundry bin in the corner of the room. He grabbed the clothes that Sweets was wearing today and headed back out of the room. He closed the door most of the way before he went back out into the living room. He went into the kitchen and looked through the drawers and cupboards until he found some garbage bags. He put the clothes into the garbage bag before he went back over to the couch and pulled his cell phone out. He knew he had to call Bones, but he just didn't know if it was important to call her now. He knew how she felt about Sweets. She didn't really show that much respect for him or his profession. Booth didn't care for therapists, but he had come to see that value in Sweets' knowledge. He had been able to give them profiles that have led to a number of arrests. Whether they liked it or not Sweets had become a part of their team and he wasn't going to let Sweets deal with this on his own. Booth dialed Bones' number and after three rings she answered with a very tired voice.

"Dr. Brennan."

"Bones, we have a situation."

"What kind of situation?" Bones asked slightly more awake now.

"Sweets was attacked tonight in the parking garage at work."

"Is he alright?"

"He's pretty banged up. I'm here at his place with him right now. I have to wake him up every two hours."

"If you have to wake him up then he has a concussion. What were his injuries?"

"Six broken ribs, a broken wrist, twenty-five stitches to his forehead, moderate concussion. His left eye is swollen shut, there is a crack in his jaw, he's covered in deep tissue bruising. He has bruising on his left kidney, liver and stomach. He was strangled so hard that it bruised wind pipe and vocal cords. Both wrists were cut up pretty badly from the handcuffs that were used on him that the doctor had to use surgical glue to close the cuts. He's also got pneumonia."

"That's more than just a simple attack Booth." Bones said now feeling upset that Sweets had gotten that injured. It was true that she didn't like what Sweets did for a living, but that didn't man he deserved to be attacked and injured.

"He didn't tell me much. He's really tired and in a lot of pain right now. He just said that there were four of them and a crowbar. I called Angela and Hodgins and they are going to come by here to grab Sweets' clothes and then they are heading to the lab. Angela is going to try and pull up the video feeds to see if she can find the attack. It happened right next to his car."

"How did you find out about it? Did the hospital call you?"

"No Sweets did from the parking lot after his attack."

"What's Sweets' address?"

"1843 Jackson Ave apartment 509, why?"

"Because I'm coming over there."

"I don't know if that is a good idea Bones. I don't know how he would feel about it. He didn't even want me to stay here."

"I'm coming over Booth. I can at least check his injuries and see for myself that nothing was missed."

"Alright I'll see you soon then."

Booth hung up his phone and he rubbed a hand over his face. He didn't know how much Sweets would like Bones being there. He also could understand why Bones wanted to be there to make sure that Sweets was alright. Bones was the best in her field and she might be able to tell something is wrong that the doctor missed. Bones wasn't that observant, but Booth was still worried about what she would think of Sweets' place. This place wasn't exactly a happy environment and even someone as unobservant as Bones would still be able to tell that this place had some issues. Booth didn't know what he was going to do with Sweets, but he knew he couldn't just keep insulting him and ignoring him. No one should be living like this and something had obviously happened to Sweets tonight. He was seriously injured and the only reason he wasn't forced to stay in a hospital is because he had severe anxiety about them from growing up. Which was another issue, Sweets was abused growing up. It blew Booth's mind to think that Sweets had been abused growing up. He seemed so happy and enjoyed life. He didn't come across as someone that knew that kind of pain and yet he had deep scars on both shoulder blades from something. Booth didn't know what, but it almost looked like he had been whipped. Booth had seen similar scars from soldiers that had been captured and tortured. Booth couldn't even begin to imagine the pain Sweets would have been in at that young of an age to go through that.

Booth knew he needed to be there for Sweets more and try and get him outside of work more interactive. He couldn't just go to work all day look at case files and then come home to look at more case files. He needed more in his life than dead bodies and patients. Booth knew he wasn't one to talk, but he at least had friends. He would get together with Bones or Cam. He would watch the games with some Agents from work. He also had Parker to get his mind away from all of the death and destruction that they see every day. Sweets didn't have those outlets and Booth was worried about what it would do to someone's mind after a while, especially when Sweets was only twenty-three years old. Booth knew he was going to have to teach Sweets a few things and get him to see that life is about more than just work. He needed to show Sweets that he also had to live.

Fifteen minutes later there was a gentle knock on the door. Booth got up and looked out the peephole to see that it was Hodgins. He opened the door and Hodgins walked in.

"How is he?" Hodgins whispered so he wouldn't wake Sweets up.

"He's asleep, but he's got to be in a lot of pain." Booth whispered back.

"He's got some serious damage done to him. He should be in a hospital."

"The doctor said he didn't need to be as long as someone was here with him tonight to wake him up. There wasn't anything they could do for him besides give him time. He's also sick on top of everything else."

"Poor guy. Let me take the clothes and Ang and me will go back to the lab and see what we can find." Hodgins said with determination in his voice.

Booth grabbed the garbage bag of clothes and handed it over to Hodgins.

"There were four of them and Sweets' wrists were cuffed so it must have been Agents. There were two Agents that had a problem with Sweets just the other day Agent Anderson and Agent Richards. Agent Richards was being seen as a patient because of an evaluation. I don't know the story, but Richards needed Sweets' approval before he could be cleared for duty and Sweets refused to clear him. Richards said he would kill Sweets before he let him take his badge from him. Anderson was pissed with Sweets because Hacker questioned Anderson's arrest and it went against Sweets' profile of the killer. Sweets agreed and Hacker released the woman that Anderson arrested and handed the case back to Anderson. Anderson believed that Sweets screwed up and let the killer go free. I heard both arguments just yesterday or technically two days ago if you want to count today as a new day."

"Ya I got what you meant. Alright so me and Ang will focus on those two and see if they have anyone else that would have helped them. I'm assuming they wore masks?"

"Probably. Sweets didn't tell me who they were and he would have if he had known. Hacker also has Sweets doing evaluations on every Agent and their stats. Apparently there is an increase in cases turning cold. The Agent arrests the wrong person and they get cleared in court only for the case to go back to the original Agent, but the Agent doesn't continue to look into it. Hacker wanted Sweets to see if there were Agents that were neglecting their duty and arresting the wrong people because they wanted the case closed. If other Agents knew that Sweets was looking into it they could have attacked him to save themselves."

"Ok so lots of possibilities there. Alright I'll work the clothes and see if I can find any DNA or part of his attackers. See if you can get him talking to see if there were other Agents that might have a problem with him."

"I'll see what he says, but it's not going to be tonight."

"That's fine. This place is depressing." Hodgins said as he looked around from the doorway.

"So it's not just me then."

"Nope, this place is sad and depressing. He doesn't have anything on the walls. Where's his photos of his family and friends? Where's the graduation pictures? He graduated from different colleges and universities there should be pictures of it everywhere. Did he just move in?"

"I don't know. I was planning on talking to him about it later. All he has is case files and there is barely any food in the kitchen. It doesn't seem like he is here very much."

"See this is why twenty year olds live with their parents. They don't take care of themselves and they just focus on work or partying. I bet you he gets too caught up in work that he even forgets to eat."

"He's done that a few times at work I've noticed. I'll talk to him and straighten him out."

"Ya good luck with that. Ang is waiting so I better go. I'll call you if we get anything."

"Thanks Hodgins."

"Hey Sweets is a good guy even if he annoys the hell out of me at times. He doesn't deserve to be hurt like this. We'll find the guys we always do."

"Ya just be careful. These guys are Agents we don't need anyone else hurt."

"We'll be careful and we won't go anywhere without letting you know."

"Let me know when you have something."

Hodgins gave a nod before he headed out of the apartment and back down to the car. Booth went over to the pile of files sitting down on Sweets' coffee table. He picked them up and saw that they were Agent's files. Booth figured that Sweets was working on them last night. Booth knew that Sweets had planned on staying home today, but he got pulled into a kidnapping case. Booth briefly wondered how that case was going and he was hoping that the child was found because Sweets had left the building. Booth couldn't help, but feel like the other two Agents that attacked Sweets were ones that were worried about Sweets reviewing their cases. Booth had no doubt that the other two Agents were Anderson and Richards. They had both argued with Sweets just the other day and Richards had threatened Sweets. Booth knew that tomorrow he would bring them in and talk to them. He would also have to speak with Hacker to let him know what had happened to Sweets. He figured he would wait until the morning when hopefully Angela and Hodgins had something for him. Booth wanted to go through the files, but he also knew he wasn't allowed either. He didn't want to get Sweets in trouble if someone found out that Booth had looked through the files. They were trusted to Sweets and Booth didn't want to put Sweets in that position where his ethics might be compromised. Booth put the file back down and he continued to look around Sweets' place. There was literally nothing on the walls. There was just files and papers all over the place. Booth couldn't help the urge anymore and he began to pick up the pieces of paper that were all over the place and put them in piles.

Fifteen minutes later there was another knock on the door and Booth knew it was Bones. He went over to the door and opened it and stepped back to let Bones come into the room. She walked in and looked down the hallway as she spoke.

"Sweets is this way?" Bones asked as she pointed down the hallway.

"Yes, but he's asleep. He doesn't need to be woken up for just over an hour from now. If you want to see him then just look and don't touch. Wait until he has to wake up." Booth whispered.

"I'll just look." Bones whispered back.

She headed down the short hallway and she gently pushed the partly open door open more so she could walk in. Booth stood by the door as Bones went over to the bed and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Sweets was very injured and covered in black bruises. After a moment she walked back towards the door and Booth moved back out of the way. Bones closed the door part way once again and they both headed back to the living room.

"He should be in a hospital Booth." Bones whispered with authority in her voice.

"I know, but the doctor allowed Sweets to leave as long as someone was with him tonight to wake him up. Sweets was having some serious anxiety from being in the hospital. He even pushed one of the nurses away from him." Booth whispered back.

"That's an extreme difference in Sweets' personality. Sweets doesn't get violent or confrontational at all. He tends to take it very submissively. Why the extreme anxiety?" Bones asked as she sat down on the couch.

Booth went and sat down on the other end of the couch and turned his body inward to face Bones.

"The nurse said she had seen it many times before. It happens with adults who have spent too much time in hospitals as a child. Bones, Sweets was abused as a child." Booth said gently.

"All because of some anxiety and what a nurse thinks? That's not very good proof Booth."

"It's true Bones. When we got back here I went to help him get his jacket and shirt off. He started to breathe heavy and he was shaking. He moved away from me and kept telling me he was fine he could do it. He was terrified of me seeing him without a shirt on and it wasn't from his current injuries. I finally got him to let me help and he has scars on both shoulder blades, about twenty of them. They look like he was whipped with something Bones. He was abused Bones." Booth said sadly.

"How? He doesn't come across as an abuse victim. He's so positive and innocent. How could we not have noticed?" Bones asked confused that they had missed something like this. That she had missed something like this. She wasn't the best in social situations, but she was observant and she thought she had read Sweets correctly.

"We didn't pay attention. Look around Bones, this place is bare of anything personal. It's depressing in here. All he has is papers and files. His TV even has dust on it from not being watched in so long. He was able to show just a professional side to everyone and we all ignored him on a personal level. We don't ever ask him how he is doing. We just go to him when we need something for a case. Even when we have our appointments with him we don't do what he asks us to do. We went on that double date thing with him and April, but even then we didn't interact with him. We know nothing about him and he knows so much about us."

"Well he knows so much because he's our therapist and he has our files. We don't talk about him and we don't see him outside of work unless it is for a case. He's not apart of our circle of friends."

"I know, but shouldn't he be? Bones he told the doctor that he didn't have any family and he didn't have any friends when the doctor suggested he could go home as long as someone was there with him. All he has is work and he doesn't have anyone else in his life. It's sad and no one should have to go through life all alone. He didn't even think that I would be willing to stay with him tonight. He was surprised and confused why I said I would. We gotta try and be there for him."

"We can find a place for him Booth. You are right no one should be alone in life and it appears that Sweets is. He has helped us solve murders and he should be considered part of the team for that. We can find him a place with the team. What are we doing about this attack?"

"Hodgins and Angela already came by to pick up Sweets' clothes from the attack. They were going to go to the lab and see if they could find anything. The attack happened right at his car at the Bureau so Angela was going to see if she could pull up the footage. His wrists were both cuffed together and the doctor had to use surgical glue to close the cuts."

"So the cuffs would have blood on them."

"So would the crowbar. His head took twenty-five stitches to close the cut on his forehead that would have come from the crowbar. He also has a hand bruise all around his neck."

"We could compare that bruise with the assailant's hand. If handcuffs were used then his attackers must have been within the Bureau."

"Sweets said there were four of them and they were all probably within the Bureau. The day before yesterday technically, I went to see Sweets in his office to ask about the case. When I got there Agent Anderson was waiting to speak to Sweets and Agent Richards was inside speaking to Sweets. Richards came out yelling at Sweets and even threatened to kill him if he tried to take his badge away. Sweets was in charge of evaluating Richards after a bad case to see if he was fit for duty and Sweets refused to clear him. Anderson also started to yell at Sweets because Sweets had the suspect that Anderson arrested let go."

"So they could be the two of the four Agents that attacked him."

"Could be. They don't have a reason to be pissed at Sweets. He was just doing his job. Richards had been through a tough case and he hadn't been dealing with it well. Hacker refused to let him return to duty until Sweets cleared him and Sweets couldn't do it. Richards thought that Sweets was trying to keep him from his job and wanted to end his career. Sweets just wanted to help."

"Sweets has no interest in ending anyone's career. It was all business to Sweets not personal. He can't let an Agent back into the field if he doesn't think he will be stable enough to handle the situation."

"Exactly and I told Richards that Sweets had no interesting in taking his badge, he just wanted him safe at work. I also told him I didn't want to hear anymore death threats from him or I would be taking his badge and he left."

"Sweets genuinely wants to help people he would have done anything for Richards to help him get back to work. What was Anderson's problem?"

"He arrested a woman for a murder case. Hacker reviewed it and had some questions and had Sweets take a look at it. Hacker is really liking Sweets and what he can do with profiles. He's been using Sweets a lot more recently to look at cases for other Agents and before he signs off on some. Sweets reviewed the case and he concluded that the woman was innocent and the killer was male. Hacker agreed with Sweets and had the woman released before she was sent to jail. Hacker gave Anderson the case back and Anderson was pissed that Sweets got involved and that his killer had been set free. Sweets told him that Hacker asked him to look into it and that his profile was for a male and not a woman."

"Could Sweets have been wrong?"

"No. Sweets told me the case and he's right the woman had no motive or any way of getting the chemical that was used to kill the victim. Sweets was right it wasn't the woman and it was a male. Guys like Anderson though they don't take it too well when someone screws around with their case. Someone like Sweets telling him he got it wrong would be a blow to his ego. A lot of the Agents don't like Sweets because of his age and what he does. I can see where they are coming from, but at the same time how many profiles has Sweets given us that has led us to our killer? He's good at what he does and if he tells me the killer is male I'm going to be looking at males and not females. He knows what he is doing."

"He has been very helpful on some cases when we had no more evidence to guide us in a direction. Who could the other two Agents be?"

"That's where it will get interesting. Hacker has been getting some heat from the brass above him. There has been an increase in cases going cold. Agents have been arresting a suspect and then that suspect spends up to a year in jail going through trails only for them to be found innocent. The case then goes back to the original Agent and the Agent doesn't reopen the investigation and it gets transferred down to the cold cases. Hacker wanted Sweets to review each Agent's stats and file to see if there was any Agents that were doing their job half assed or neglecting their duty. If other Agents got word of what Sweets was being ordered to do then any of them that had something to hide could have attacked him."

"So it could be two other Agents along with Anderson and Richards or it could be four Agents that have something to hide in their files. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to call Hacker in the morning and let him know what we have so far. I'm hoping Angela and Hodgins will be able to have something for me to use. I'm then going to bring in Anderson and Richards to talk to them and see if they will show me their cuffs. I need to talk to Sweets, but he's not in that great of shape to be doing it."

"The internal bruising on his organs will be very painful until they are fully healed. His stomach will give him shooting pains at random moments, it will hurt after he eats and he might not be as hungry as he normally is until the bruising is gone. Not to mention the damage done to his wind pipe and vocal cords. He'll have to be off work for a couple of weeks before he could return and even then he won't be able to be out in the field until the bruising heals."

"He doesn't tend to go out into the field to begin with. I just can't believe I never noticed before."

"Sweets is a psychologist he's trained to know human emotions and how to recognize them and how to hide them. He's a child prodigy it would only make sense that he's been able to hide it."

"Do you think it was his own parents? How long do you think it went on for?"

"I don't know. Only he has those answers and if he is anything like us he won't want to talk about it. We can keep a close eye on him and make sure he is eating properly and not working himself to death. He's only twenty-three he's still young by social standards. Hodgins said that most people his age are still living with their parents. He could just be adjusting back to being on his own after being out of school. We can keep a closer eye on him and make sure he is adjusting well. If he doesn't have any family in his life it must be hard to deal with everything on his own. To not have anyone to ask for their opinion or advice on something. I never realised until Angela how much I needed someone else there in my life to talk to. Sweets doesn't seem to have that and everyone needs that in their life."

"So we keep an eye on him and just be there for him."

"Exactly. He's one of us Booth, he's a survivor of child abuse. We can't just leave one of ours out there to suffer on his own." Bones said with emotions edging in her voice.

"Ok, one of us."

Bones gave a small smile and Booth gave one back. They couldn't ignore what they had found out. They couldn't leave Sweets on his own to deal with this all by himself. They didn't know his situation, but they were going to find out. For tonight they would just make sure he was alright physically before they worried about anything else. Tonight Sweets needed sleep and then tomorrow if he was feeling better they could deal with what happened.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: So when I started this I totally forgot that Angela and Hodgins had broken up already. I thought that didn't happen until later into the season. I had this story taking place just before season 4 to bridge the gap between the way everyone now reacts to Sweets. Season 3 they didn't really like him and was accusing him of being a serial killer's apprentice and all that. It seemed like a quick jump to me. So for the sake of this fic let's just pretend that whole breaking up thing didn't happen yet.**_

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Chapter 2

It wasn't until nine the next morning did Hodgins call Booth. They had spent the last six hours waking Sweets up every two hours. Each time he had woken up and been able to answer the simple questions. Booth had made sure he was the one to wake up Sweets and not Bones. He didn't know how Sweets would react to Bones being there. He wasn't reacting too well with Booth being there either. Booth could tell that Sweets just wasn't used to someone being there for him. Sweets was surprised every time he was woken up that Booth was still there. Booth had even changed out the ice pack each time as well. Sweets just wasn't used to someone taking care of him and that fact hurt Booth. Sweets was still young and he had already come to be used to being on his own and not having anyone there for him. It wasn't something anyone should be used to, but especially someone so young. Booth had waited each time as Sweets went back to sleep. He wanted to make sure Sweets was alright. Booth could tell Sweets was in pain and he was getting sicker. Booth was hoping that Sweets would be alright. It sucked that he was injured so badly, but it was made worse by the fact that he had pneumonia and that would make him cough causing pain to his broken ribs. Booth knew all too well how painful a broken rib could be. He's had plenty of them in his life to know just how painful they can be. Booth wanted to catch these bastards that hurt Sweets and he was hoping that the lab had been able to find something.

Booth's phone went off and he pulled it out to see that it was Hodgins.

"Hodgins, tell me you have something and keep it simple I've been up all night."

"Angie was able to find the video footage from the parking lot. Sweets' car is right next to a camera so the whole thing was caught on tape. We can email it to you. It's brutal though Booth. He didn't even see it coming. They came up behind him as he was putting a box into the backseat of his car. One grabbed him from behind while the other put the cuffs on him. The one holding him stood behind him as he choked him and the others took turns beating him with a crowbar and their fits. Then they left him for dead. He could have been even more hurt than he was for all they knew. He didn't stand a chance man." Hodgins said and Booth could hear the anger in his voice.

"Send it to me and I'll look at it. Did you find something that will tell me who these bastards are?"

"Ang was able to track the guys from the video feeds in the parking lot. They didn't take their masks off until they were in a drove off. Ang is going to see if she can track the car to a location. They did however talk to Sweets, at least one of them did. We can match his voice to a suspect once we have one. She is also going to see if she can find the car and who owns it. The hand that was choking Sweets would have left DNA and a hand print around his neck. DNA might have come off by now, but if we got a picture of it then we can run it through the system and see who was behind Sweets. Sweets' clothes had particulates from his attackers' shoes as well as two separate shoe impressions on his jacket. There is also particulates from the pavement, but that's not going to help prove who did it. We can get the blood off from the cuffs once you have a set for us to look at."

"Ok so I need to talk to Sweets and see what he remembers. You need to find who owns that car. One of the four of them owns the car they used to get away."

"Ang is on it. I was thinking these guys left afterwards. So you could see who was still in the building after this happened and who left before Sweets was attacked. These guys wouldn't have gone back to work."

"That's good Hodgins. I'll pull the records and see who wasn't in the building while Sweets was attacked. That will help narrow it down. Good thinking Hodgins. Let me know when you get something I can use to bring someone in. I gotta call Hacker and let him know what happened. When Sweets wakes up we'll send the pictures of his neck."

"I'll get Ang focused on finding the car and I'll call when we got something."

"Thanks Hodgins."

Booth ended the call and turned to Bones who was waiting to see what they had found out.

"Angela found the video footage. Sweets' car is parked right next to a camera. There were four of them and they came up behind him. Sweets didn't even expect it. Hodgins is going to send me the video. Angela was able to follow them out of the parking lot to a car, but they never took their masks off. She is going to try and see if she can find out who owns the car and where it went. Hodgins found particulates from Sweets being on the ground and off the shoes of his attackers. He also found imprints left on Sweets' jacket from shoe prints. Hodgins also thought of that Sweets' attackers wouldn't have gone back into the building. So I need the records from security to see who was in the building when Sweets was attacked and who had left around that time."

"I have my laptop in my car I can grab it and you can use it to access what you need. Angela will find the car and get you the ownership of it."

"I know she will. I need to call Hacker and let him know what happened. I don't really want to leave Sweets just yet."

"I agree. He shouldn't be alone just yet. He's only been back for six hours now and he could still have problems. I will get my laptop while you call Assistant Director Hacker." Bones said as she stood up.

Booth gave a nod as he dialed the phone while Bones headed out of the room to go to her car to get her laptop out of the car. After three rings Hacker answered.

"Assistant Director Hacker."

"It's Booth, we have a situation Sir."

"What situation would that be at just nine in the morning Agent Booth?"

"Last night Sweets was attacked by four Agents in the parking garage next to his car. He called me and I took him to the hospital he has a long list of serious injuries including six broken ribs and internal bruising on three of his organs. He's home right now and I have spent the night with him waking him up every two hours from his moderate concussion. Angela and Hodgins have been working since three this morning on getting evidence. Angela has the video from the attack and the four Agents were wearing masks. They got into a car and she is trying to find the owner and where the car went. One of the Agents spoke we might be able to ID him from the sound of his voice. Sweets was also handcuffed and the cuffs cut into both wrists causing the doctor to use surgical glue to close the cuts. There will be blood on the cuffs. They were also so tight that it broke his right wrist."

"And you are certain that it was Agents that attacked him and not four random people that are looking to hurt him from a past case?"

"They had handcuffs and they wore masks. Two Agents had a problem with Sweets just the other day. Angela is running the car ownership to see who it belongs to and where it went. He was attacked right at his car it's too much of a coincidence for it to be random people. I'm going to pull up the security logs and see which Agents were in the building when Sweets was there and who didn't come back in once Sweets was attacked. Sweets was also strangled and there is a bruise of a hand on his neck. Hodgins thinks we can match the handprint to someone in the Bureau, we may also be able to get DNA from it still. Hodgins also has found shoeprints on Sweets' jacket and particulates from the attackers' shoes. These guys were Agents Sir."

"Alright has Dr. Sweets said anything about it?"

"I haven't asked him. He's in pain and talking hurts I would imagine. He just said that there were four of them and a crowbar. I was going to ask him later when he was awake."

"What Agents had a problem with him recently?"

"Agent Anderson and Agent Richards. Agent Richards gave Sweets a death threat in my presence just the other day after his meeting with Sweets."

"Neither Agent has come to me with problems with Sweets. I sent Richards to speak to Dr. Sweets before he could be cleared for duty. Anderson got the wrong person arrested and I didn't agree with it. I asked Dr. Sweets to review it himself to confirm which he did. So they could be two out of the four."

"It's possible. He's also doing the evaluations and reviews for every Agent's case files. It could also be four Agents that are feeling threatened by Sweets reviewing their work. They might be thinking they could lose their job."

"Alright. I will email you the security logs. I'll call Richards in so you can speak to him and Anderson is supposed to be in today as well. See what you can find out within the hour before Richards gets here."

"Yes Sir."

"I want this case closed quick Agent Booth. We can't have Agents beating up other members of the Bureau. Close it quick."

"Got it."

Booth ended the call as Bones was coming back in with her laptop.

"Hacker isn't too happy right now. He's going to bring in Richards. I have an hour to find something that we can use to point us in a direction. He's going to email me the security logs so I can go over them."

"But Richards isn't an active Agent right now so he's not going to be on the list."

"I know, but I'm hoping there will be the other three. I need the name on that ownership."

"Angela will get it for you. She's very good." Bones said as she sat down on the couch and Booth sat down beside her as she loaded up the laptop.

"I know she is. I just hate that this happened. He didn't just get a little beat up Bones, they jumped him from behind and beat the hell out of him."

"I agree. His injuries are nothing to laugh at. He's going to be in pain for weeks and it will take eight weeks for his ribs to be fully healed. He has some recovery ahead of him." Bones said sympathetically.

Booth signed into his email as he spoke.

"It shouldn't have happened. He's just doing his job and even if his job is annoying at times he still helps a lot of people and helps us put killers away. His profiles have been very helpful to us, especially when we get stuck and have no idea what to do once the evidence gives us nothing. He doesn't deserve to be beat up over his job."

"I know Booth and I agree with you. Even if psychology is a soft-science his profiles have been helpful in leading us to a suspect. Regardless of what people think he doesn't deserve to be attacked liked this because of him just doing his job."

"Alright here is the video." Booth said as he opened the video and hit play.

Bones leaned over so she could see the screen as well. They watched as Sweets walked over to his car carrying his briefcase and a box in his hands. He opened the back door and put the box down on the back seat and put his keys onto the driver's seat as he put his briefcase down on the backseat. They saw as the four men came up behind Sweets and the one quickly grabbed him around the neck with his hand and pulled Sweets back. Sweets instantly brought his hands up to the man's hand and tried to get it off from him. They saw Sweets fighting against the man holding him, but he was still dragged back into the darker part near the wall. They watched as his wrists were cuffed and the one man came over to Sweets and spoke. They knew what was coming, but it didn't help to prepare them very much. They watched as the men each began to beat Sweets. Booth also felt a touch of pride as he watched Sweets try and fight off his attackers. He had kicked at them and tried to wiggle out of the man's death grip on his throat. At the end it wasn't enough and he was left bleeding with broken bones on the pavement.

"Did you see that?" Bones said as she went over to her laptop and moved the video back near the first.

"See what?"

"He scratched the guy's hand. Look." Bones said as she paused it right where Sweets scratched the guy's hand that was around his throat.

"He scratched him. If he hasn't washed his hands that DNA could still be there. He also landed a few kicks on that second guy. The one that spoke was definitely Richards. I would recognize that voice anywhere. We got him at least." Booth said as he saw what Bones was talking about.

"Maybe he has other friends that he has outside of the Bureau. He's on suspension you said."

"It's possible. We'll know if we can get any DNA off Sweets."

They heard some shuffling and they both looked towards the partly open door. They heard Sweets take a sharp breath in and they both knew he was awake. Booth got up and so did Bones. Booth went down the hallway first and Bones followed behind him. They didn't know what Sweets would be like at first and they didn't want to have him feeling overwhelmed. Booth gently knocked on the door before he walked in. Bones stayed by the door as Booth walked into the room. They saw Sweets laying down on his back and he was clearly in pain. His head turned at the knock and he was surprised to see Booth and Bones here. Booth didn't know why Sweets would be surprised to see him. He had been there since three this morning waking him up. He should have known he would still be here.

"How you doing Sweets?" Booth gently asked.

"Fine." Sweets' voice was rough and raw and it was clear that he was in pain.

"I'm sure there is some psychological mumbo jumbo that you have that explains why when someone is clearly not fine they say they are." Booth said with a small smile.

"What are you both doing here?" Sweets asked weakly as he tried to push himself up to a sitting position.

"Whoa hey Sweets don't move around too much. You got a lot of broken ribs its best if you just lay down." Booth said calmly as he went over closer to Sweets to get him to stop moving to sit up.

"Booth is right Sweets you should lay flat on your back. It will help with your ribs as well as the internal bruising on your stomach. Moving around too much will only cause you more pain." Bones said calmly.

Sweets laid back down and fought the urge to cough as he knew it would hurt like hell if he did.

"Why are you both here?" Sweets asked weakly once again.

"Why wouldn't we still be here Sweets? You are seriously injured and sick. You shouldn't be alone for long right now." Booth answered.

"I'm fine. I'm sure you both have more important work with your case. You don't need to be here with me. I'll be fine on my own."

"People shouldn't be alone when they are injured like this. Just because you are used to being alone doesn't make it right Sweets. As for that case we made an arrest yesterday thanks to your profile. It was a male by the way and he did it because she cheated on him twenty years ago. Only for him to marry her sister. Right now the only case we have to work on is yours." Booth said.

"Mine?" Sweets asked confused.

"You didn't think I was going to let those bastards get away with this did you?"

"I just figured local police would work it."

"Agents were involved in your attack Sweets. That's not something for local police to handle. Besides even if it was junkies I wouldn't be passing this case off to anyone else." Booth said.

"Agents?" Sweets asked confused.

"Agents attacked you Sweets. One of them used their cuffs on you. One of them spoke to you." Booth said with patience in his voice.

"I don't remember. It's all hazy right now." Sweets said with pain in his voice from talking.

"It's your concussion. It should come back to you once your brain has time to heal." Bones said.

"The attack was caught on the camera by your car. Angela already got the footage and I was able to ID the one Agent from his voice. It was Richards. You also kicked another one and scratched the one holding your neck. Bones is hoping that maybe you still have his DNA on you." Booth said gently.

"If not then the bruising around your neck will be enough for Angela to get his finger prints from." Bones added.

"You want a swab." Sweets said as his voice got weaker and weaker.

"I have a kit in my car. I just need to swab your neck and do a scrapping under your fingernails. It would help to identify your attacker." Bones said.

Sweets just gave a weak nod and Bones gave a very small smile before she headed out of the room to go to her car to get her kit.

"Do you remember anything Sweets?" Booth asked gently.

"Just four guys and a crowbar or tire iron I don't know. It's fuzzy right now."

"That's okay. Don't force yourself to remember it'll come back to you. Richards spoke to you and it was caught on tape. I was able to ID his voice. Hacker is going to bring him in. Hacker doesn't know yet that I was able to make Richards. I'll go and talk to him and see if he will tell me who the others are. I have the security logs from last night too and they might be able to give us the other Agents. Can you remember if there is anyone from the files that you read that wouldn't be happy with you going through their cases? Besides Anderson."

"I don't know. I can't… I can't really think straight right now. I'm sorry." Sweets said weakly and Booth could hear the pain clear in his voice. He was in a lot of pain right now and he was trying to hide it and put on a brave front.

"Its okay don't worry about it. I'll find out who the other three bastards are. Don't stress over it. Angela got the footage and saw that the four Agents got into a car. She was going to track it and see who it belonged to and where it went. Hodgins found particulates on your clothes and he'll be able to match them to your attackers. We'll get them Sweets I promise you." Booth said with strength to his voice.

"The little girl, do you know if she was found?" Sweets asked changing the topic to one he really wanted to know about.

"I'm not sure. I have to go into the office to interrogate Richards. I'll ask Hacker if she was found. If they followed your profile I'm sure they found her. I'll ask for you."

"She's only three. She was taken off her front lawn when her mother ran into the house to get her daughter some water. Her front lawn was fenced with a gate the little girl should have been safe. It was only seven in the morning. It was someone that knew her."

"I'll check for you. I'm sure they found her Sweets. Don't try and talk too much right now." Booth said calmly.

Bones came back into the room with a small metal kit in her hand. She went over to the bed and put the kit down on the bedside table.

"I just need to swab your neck, take a picture of the bruising and scrap your fingernails. None of this will hurt." Bones said clinically.

Sweets just gave a small nod as Bones got her gloves on and grabbed a swab. She gently took the swab of his neck all around the front and sides before she put the swab back into the box it came in. She then took a couple of pictures of the bruising around his neck before she took the fingernail scrapings. Once she was done she put the evidence in her kit before she closed it.

"I will get this back to the lab and Cam will be able to see if she can get any DNA."

"I need to go into the office and interrogate Richards. I'll be about an hour and then I'll be back to check in on you. I don't like the idea of leaving you alone, but we don't have much of a choice right now. Do you need any pain medication or your anti-biotic?"

"Not yet. You don't have to come back. I'll be fine on my own. I'm just going to sleep."

"You need to just sleep, but I'm still coming back here to check in on you. So do you have a spare key I can use?"

"No. Just take my keys. You really don't have to though I'll be fine."

"You will be fine and I'm going to make sure of that. I'll come bring you a new ice pack to help your ribs then I'll head out. Bones can you drop me off at the office?"

"Of course."

"I'll get you a new ice pack and then we'll head out." Booth said as he got up off the bed and headed out of the room.

Sweets just closed his eyes and tried his best to ignore the fact that Bones was still in the room. Sweets just wanted to be left alone right now and he didn't want to have to deal with anyone right now. Bones just stood there waiting for when Booth would be back with an ice pack. Thankfully the apartment was small so it didn't take him long at all before he was back in the room with a new ice pack. Booth went over to Sweets and he removed the no longer cold ice pack and gently placed the new one down over Sweets' right ribs. Sweets hissed at the new pain the cold caused him, but he knew that he would feel better after his body adapted to the cold.

"Alright I won't be long and I'll come back and check in on you. Just rest and don't move around too much." Booth said in a serious voice.

"Really you don't have to come back. I'm fine on my own Agent Booth." Sweets tried one more time.

"And I told you I'm coming back. Just rest up Sweets." Booth said gently.

"Booth is right Sweets. The best thing for you to do is to rest and try not to move around too much." Bones said with a small smile.

Sweets just gave a nod and both Bones and Booth headed out of the bedroom and back to the front door. Booth grabbed Sweets' keys that he put down on a table by the couch before they headed out. Booth made sure he locked the door and they both headed down the stairs to Bones' car. They got into the car and they headed off for the Bureau so Booth could get to the office and interrogate Richards and update Hacker about what they had discovered.

"He didn't look too good at all Booth." Bones said after they headed down the street.

"I told you he was injured. He doesn't have any food in that place either. I'll come by later with some things for him. He's going to be in too much pain to be doing much of anything."

"Soft and easy foods will help his throat and stomach. Things like soup, potatoes, ice cream things like that."

"I'll pick him up some stuff before I head back. I can also make him some soup that he can just warm up throughout the week."

"Hot honey, lemon tea will help with his throat and soothe his stomach as well. I can make him some simple foods that will be good on his stomach that he can reheat in the microwave. I'm sure Angela will make something as well. He shouldn't be moving around too much in this next week."

"I'll make him some soup and get him some of that tea at the store before I go back. Hopefully this won't take long to wrap up. I don't want to drag this out."

"I'm sure there will be plenty of evidence that you can use against these assailants. You will get them Booth you always do."

"I also have to ask about the little girl that was kidnapped. Sweets said she was only three years old."

"I hope they found her. Hacker would know wouldn't he?" Bones asked with concern.

"He would. I'll ask when I get there for Sweets he was worried about her."

"I'm sure they found her Booth."

"I hope so. A three year old little girl out there is never something anyone wants to happen. Hopefully they found her."

Booth's phone went off and Booth pulled it out to see that it was Angela calling him.

"Ya Angela what did you get?" Booth asked as he answered the phone.

"So I found out who owns the car. Anthony Walker, he was in the military for twenty years before he retired. Get this, Walker was on a team with Richards and two other men; Michael Roth and Jeremy Gardener. All of them are retired and Richards went into the FBI from the military. They all retired at the same time after a bad operation. According to the file the military felt that their service to the country was complete and they were given retirement. Now Walker works for a security company as a rent a cop at a mall. Roth has his own business of landscaping and Gardener is currently unemployed from what I can find. I was also able to track where the car ended up and it went to Walker's house."

"Good work Angela. I recognized the voice on the video as Richards. Can you see if his voice is anywhere on record and do a comparison?"

"I'll start looking for something to compare it to. How's Sweets doing?"

"He's in pain. Bones is heading in with some evidence from Sweets. I'm heading into the office to interrogate Richards. Then I'll head back and check in on Sweets."

"Well let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

"You getting the evidence helps. Thanks Angela."

"No problem. Get these bastards Booth."

"I will, I guarantee it."

Booth ended the call and turned to Bones. "Angela was able to find the owner of the car, Anthony Walker. Walker, Richards, Roth and Gardener, were all on the same military squad. After a bad operation they were all given retirement and went their own ways. Walker is a rent a cop at a mall so he might have cuffs. They all went to Walker's house afterwards."

"That's good that they were in the military. That means their fingerprints and DNA will be in the system. It won't take long to match the DNA and bruise on Sweets' neck."

"Good hopefully this will all be over with today. It makes sense that Richards would call up some old army buddies to help him beat up Sweets. They all clearly went through something bad enough that the military gave them retirement and let them leave. I wouldn't be surprised if the file leans more towards force retirement than them requesting it."

"Good this might be over with quickly then."

They drove to the Bureau and once there Booth got out and headed inside and up to his floor so he could talk to Hacker. He headed to Hacker's office and he knocked on the door. Once he was told to enter Booth walked in to see Hacker sitting down at his desk. Booth closed the door before he headed over to the desk, but he didn't sit down.

"Agent Booth, what do you have?" Hacker asked with complete seriousness to his voice.

"Angela sent me the video feed from the attack last night. You can see all of the assailants on the video. The whole thing is caught on tape and one of them spoke. I was able to make the ID of the one speaking being Agent Richards. All of their faces are covered with a mask, but his voice is distinctive."

"Can you do a comparison so it's sealed up for the courts?"

"Angela is working on that right now. If nothing else he will talk in the interrogation so she'll have it from that. She did trace the car back to its owner and it came back as Anthony Walker. The car was driven to his house. Walker and Richards were in the military together on a squad with Michael Roth and Jeremy Gardener. According to records after a bad operation they were all given retirement and they went their separate ways. Walker is a rent a cop at a mall and he would have access to handcuffs if Richards' were not the ones used. I am going to call Caroline and see if she can get me a warrant on Walker and Richards' phone based on the evidence we have she'll be able to. I want to bring in Roth, Walker and Gardener and talk to them, see if they will give anything up."

"I'll have Agents go out and pick them up. Is there any physical evidence yet?"

"Bones took a swab of Sweets' neck and a picture of the hand shaped bruise as well as nail scrapings. In the video you can see Sweets fought back. It didn't help him any, but he did scratch the man choking him and kicked one of his assailants hard enough to bruise. There is going to be proof of an attack on them. We have Walker's car on video and going to his house with everyone in the car. We have Richards' voice and either his cuffs or Walker's will have blood on them. We got those two easily. Hopefully the evidence will give us more or they turn on each other."

"I'll have Agents go and pick up the other three. Richards is in interrogation room one and he is not too happy. Go take his badge from him and make sure he never gets it back."

"With pleasure Sir. Sweets was also curious if you were able to locate that missing little girl."

"Agent Sanders was able to locate the little girl. She was taken by the man that delivers the flyers in the morning, once a week. It was his first offense and he didn't do anything to her. She was kept in a locked room the whole time. She spent the night last night back in her own bed with her parents."

"That's a relief. I'll let Sweets know he was worried about her."

"His profile is what led Sanders to an arrest. It was crucial. Thanks to his profile that little girl was found and unharmed."

"He's great at what he does. He'll be pleased to know that he could help. Thank-you Sir."

Hacker gave a nod and Booth headed out of the office and headed for the interrogation room. He pulled out his cell phone and called Caroline as he walked. After two rings she answered.

"Hello Cherie."

"Hey, Sweets was attacked last night by four guys all wearing ski masks and a crowbar. He was seriously injured. The one who organized it all was Agent Richards. I have him in the interrogation room right now. I need you to get me a warrant for his phone records as well as the other three men involved; Jeremy Gardener, Anthony Walker and Michael Roth. I also need a search warrant for their homes to search for evidence and to Walker's car. It was used as their get-away car." Booth said skipping the normal small talk he would do with Caroline.

"I'll have the warrants within the hour. Is the good doctor okay?" Caroline asked with a mix of anger and concern.

"He will be, but he has six broken ribs, internal bruising, a concussion, sprained wrist, cracked jaw, multiple stitches plus he is sick with pneumonia right now. He's a mess and in a lot of pain. I want this case wrapped up nice and tight so he doesn't have to worry about it and maybe not have to deal with a trial."

"I'll get you those warrants. You give Sweets my best wishes and if he needs anything to have him call me."

"I'll let him know. Thanks Caroline."

"You just get these bastards that hurt our good doctor Cherie."

"I can promise you that."

Booth ended the call just before he headed into the interrogation room. He walked into the room to see Richards seething in anger as he sat in the chair. Booth closed the door and went over to the table as Richards spoke.

"What the hell is the meaning of this Booth?" Richards said with complete anger dripping from his voice.

"You know why you're here." Booth said with control to his voice.

"I know I was at home minding my own business when an Agent told me I had to come in for questioning. What bullshit are you playing at here?"

"You don't know why you are here really? Well how about a little reminder." Booth said as he pulled out his phone and pulled up the video on his phone of the attack.

He held it out for Richards to see. He watched as Richards watched it and after it was only playing for a moment Richards spoke.

"So the brat got what was coming to him. It has nothing to do with me." Richards said defensively.

"Oh no? Well I would imagine that seeing how it's your voice that is on that tape it makes it have a lot to do with you."

"That's not my voice." Richards said automatically.

"Yes it is. I know your voice and I bet you that when Sweets hears it he'll agree."

"No one would ever believe that little shit over me." Richards said with anger.

"Yes they will and they will believe me over you. And if that isn't enough all we have to do is show them the voice comparison and any doubt will be put to bed." Booth said as he put his phone back.

"I wasn't there and you can't prove that I was. A voice comparison doesn't mean shit. You need actual evidence which there is none as I wasn't there." Richards said as he crossed his arms over his chest and sat back.

"Yes you were. You and your three army buddies, Anthony Walker, Michael Roth and Jeremy Gardener. You called them up and you came up with the plan to assault Dr. Sweets. I'll find the phone logs easily enough. Caroline is already on the warrant for it and to search all of your homes and Walker's car that you used to leave the parking garage and go to his house. I'll find the masks and the cuffs that will have Dr. Sweets' blood on them. Not to mention the DNA evidence from him and the hand bruise around his neck. You and your three army buddies are going to jail for a decade all because you didn't like what he had to say about you."

"I didn't do anything. I'm innocent. Doesn't mean I'm all broken up over him getting the shit beat out of him. He deserved it. Trying to tell me that he won't clear me. Like he even understands what life is really like. Like he understands what it's like to be an Agent. He's just some snot nose bratty kid playing dress-up. He doesn't know what pain is. He doesn't know what a hard life is. He wanted to take my badge from me. I had nothing to do with what happened to him, but I'm glad it did. He deserved it and more." Richards said with complete hate in his voice.

"See that is where you are wrong. He didn't deserve it. He wasn't trying to take your badge from you, he was trying to do everything he could to make sure you got to keep it. His job is to make sure you are mentally stable enough to be trusted with a gun and with the lives of innocent people and in his opinion and mine you weren't. But on the bright side he won't be taking your badge. I will be. You're under arrest for assault with a deadly weapon on a Federal Agent." Booth said as he stood up and Richards' erupted.

"Go to hell! I didn't do anything to that little bitch you can't prove shit Booth!"

Booth went over to Richards and grabbed his arm tight and pulled him to his feet as he spoke with anger in his own voice. "Ya well Hacker is more than happy with the evidence that I have on you. You and your friends are going to spend the next ten years in jail. That's assuming Caroline doesn't want to add attempted murder to the list. Now shut the hell up you know your rights."

Booth pulled out his cuffs and cuffed Richards before he dragged him out of the room and handed him off to another Agent that would take him and book him. The whole time Richards yelled that he didn't do it and that Booth would regret it. Booth just ignored him and pulled out his phone and called Angela. Booth walked back to his office as he waited for Angela to answer.

"Hey Booth." Angela answered after three rings.

"Tell me you got something for me."

"Well I ran the voice comparison on Richards and it was a perfect match."

"And you're sure that will hold up?"

"Absolutely. There's no room for argument its perfect."

"Good I don't want him getting off on this. I just arrested Richards. He's denying the whole thing, but I didn't expect anything less. Caroline is working on a warrant to search the four residents and get phone records. Anything come back on the DNA?"

"Cam is running it right now. I ran the handprint and it came back as a match to Jeremy Gardener."

"So he was the one that was choking and holding Sweets. Good work Angela I can use that to arrest him."

"Cam is putting the DNA and nail scrapings through right now so if there is anything she will have it quick."

"Good. Agents are bringing in the three of them. I can arrest Gardener with the handprint and he'll have the cut on his hand from Sweets. The car will let me arrest Walker. I just need something to arrest Roth."

"Hey is that Booth?" Hodgins asked as he walked into the room.

"Ya just a second let me put him on speaker phone." Angela said as she hit the button.

"Booth man I found something that you are gonna like." Hodgins said.

"Keep it simple Hodgins." Booth said already getting the feeling that this was going to be a long and confusing conversation.

"After seeing the video I went to the crime scene and searched the ground for any trace of the fight. Sweets had a weird particulate on his jeans that he got when he was on the ground. It's a high-end soil that is used by landscapers for those rich clients. There was some of the ground there that I brought back as a comparison. There was also a shoe print with the stuff on the pavement right where the attack happened."

"Landscaper, Roth owns his own landscaping company." Booth said as he understood what Hodgins was getting at.

"I took a picture of the shoe print so you can use it to compare it to his shoes. Sweets also had a small couple of drips of blood on his pants down near his knee. They were the only blood on his pants so I had Cam run it to see who it belonged to. It's probably from his attackers the one that he kicked a few times." Hodgins said.

"Sweets told me he used to play soccer in a community centre when he was in college. He probably still has a good kick to him that he made his attacker bleed." Angela said.

"Ok good work you guys. Get Cam to call me right away when she has the results for the DNA, but that's enough with the warrants for me to be able to arrest these bastards."

"How is Sweets doing?" Hodgins asked.

"He's not doing too well. I'm going back over there once I am done here."

"Can we do anything?" Angela asked.

"Bones said with the bruising to his throat and stomach that he won't be able to eat much food. I'm going to make him some soup and pick him up a few things. He won't be able to move around much for the next week. It might be nice if you want to cook him something so he just has to reheat it. He doesn't really have any food in his place right now. Something that I need to talk to him about."

"I can cook him some meals. I know a lot of great things that would be simple on him and easy to just reheat." Angela said.

"Ya I can make him some things too. Ice cream, popsicles, freezies and tea is going to be really good for his throat and stomach. The bruising will make his stomach hurt from time to time. Oatmeal is good too and potatoes." Hodgins said.

"I'm going to pick him up some soup and tea. I'll get him some vanilla ice cream too. He's also sick so he's not really feeling great at all. Anything would help so he doesn't have to stress over it while he's trying to recover." Booth said.

"What about his family have they been notified?" Hodgins asked.

"He doesn't have any family and no friends in the city. He's on his own." Booth said as he kept the sadness from his voice.

"That's so sad. Well we will keep an eye on him and make sure he is healing up good. I'll make some food for him so he doesn't have to worry about it." Angela said.

"Ya and I'll pick him up a few things that will help with his throat and stomach. Let us know when you get the cuffs and shoes and we can compare them and run them for any blood or particulates." Hodgins said.

"I'll let you know. Good job guys."

"Thanks." Angela said.

Booth ended the call and he went over and sat down at his desk. He didn't want to be doing nothing, but he couldn't do anything until the other assailants were brought in so he could interrogate them. He had to wait for other people to get what they needed done so he could get this over and done with for Sweets today. Booth knew that it wouldn't make everything all better, but it would be the start of healing for Sweets. To know that these men were off the street and they couldn't come after him again would at least help to make Sweets feel safer. Booth knew that he still had healing to do and not just physically. Sweets was one of the best psychologists in the country though and Booth was confident that he would be able to work through what happened to him and be able to move forward. Booth also knew he would need to keep a closer eye on Sweets to make sure that he wasn't getting too lost in his work and neglecting his own life and health. Booth was going to keep a closer eye on Sweets to make sure that he wasn't slipping through the cracks.

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It was just after three by the time Booth got back to Sweets' apartment. He had spent the last five hours getting this case wrapped up. The DNA from Sweets' neck came back from Gardener as well as the nail scrapings. The soil traces and the small blood spots on Sweets' pants came back as a match to Roth. The cuffs that was used on Sweets came back as Walker's and they were found in Walker's house. It was a slam dunk case and one that was solved quickly. Booth was thankful that it was over and done with in the legal sense. Booth was certain that Richards will fight the charges, but the other three had too much evidence to even try and fight it. Booth was confident that they would plead guilty and skip out on a trial.

Once he had all of the paperwork taken care of Booth went to the grocery store and picked up a few things for Sweets so he wouldn't have to worry about it. Angela, Bones, Cam and Hodgins were all going to make him a few easy meals so he would just have to reheat them when he was hungry. It wasn't much, but it would help him get through the next week without having to move around too much. Booth grabbed the two bags and he headed out of his SUV and headed back up to Sweets' apartment. He walked in and he saw that Sweets was laying down on the couch with the TV on a baseball game. Booth went and put the two bags down in the kitchen before he went over to the back of the couch and looked down at Sweets. Booth didn't say anything when he first walked in, because he didn't know if Sweets was sleeping or not. When he looked over the back of the couch he saw that Sweets was awake and he looked even worse than he had when Booth and Bones left. He was covered in a light throw blanket with a pillow behind his head. He was shivering though and Booth could see that he had a fever and was in a lot of pain. The bruising on his face and neck had only gotten darker and his left eye was still swollen shut and Booth could see the side of his jaw was slightly swollen as well.

"Hey Sweets. When was the last time you had any medication?" Booth asked gently.

"Couple of hours ago." Sweets said through clenched teeth as it hurt to talk.

Booth moved his hand gently and slowly placed the back of his hand against Sweets' forehead. Sweets flinched slightly, but he calmed down a lot quicker than he had last night when Booth touched him.

"You have a high fever. Did you take your anti-biotic?" Booth asked as he moved his hand back.

Sweets just gave a nod.

"We need to get that fever down." Booth said as he moved back from the couch and he headed down to the small and short hallway and opened the only door besides the bedroom and bathroom. He saw that it was a small linen closet and Booth grabbed a cloth before he closed the door. Booth went into the kitchen and ran the cloth under cold water before he rung it out. He then grabbed a new ice pack before he went out into the living room. He went over to the back of the couch and he spoke as he gently placed the cloth across Sweets' forehead.

"This is going to be cold, but it will help bring your fever down. I also need to pull the blanket down from your torso to help cool your body off. I have a new ice pack too. What side hurts the most?" Booth asked gently.

"Right."

Booth pulled the blanket back and folded it over Sweets' hip before he went and placed the ice pack against Sweets' right side.

"I'll be right back." Booth said calmly before he headed to the kitchen to put the few things away in the fridge or freezer. He went back out into the living room and he sat down on the coffee table.

"So I got you a few things to help you for the week. Bones said that lemon, honey tea would be good for your throat and your stomach. She said that your stomach will hurt from time to time with the bruising and that simple food would be best for it for the first week. I got you some vanilla ice cream, popsicles and freezies for your throat and they will help with you being sick. I got you some soup it's in the fridge all you have to do is warm it up." Booth said calmly.

"Thank-you. You didn't have to do that Agent Booth, I appreciate it."

"It's no problem. You would do the same for any of us. I did speak to Hacker and they did find the little girl. Hacker said your profile led them right to the kidnapper. It was the man that delivers the flyers to that area. It was his first offense and he didn't do anything to the little girl besides keeping her locked up in a bedroom by herself. She spent last night with her parents."

Sweets closed his right eye in relief before he spoke.

"Thank-you for asking for me. That's great news."

"It is great news and Hacker said she wasn't hurt at all. Your case is closed up and it's air tight. Do you want to know who they were?" Booth asked gently not sure if Sweets was ready to hear this.

Sweets just gave a small nod and Booth spoke deciding to leave out all of the technical stuff.

"Richards got three of his old army buddies; Anthony Walker, Michael Roth and Jeremy Gardener. They were all in a squad together and something happened on an operation that the military had them all retired early. Richards wanted to make sure you didn't take his badge from him. I took great pleasure in doing it and slapping the cuffs on him a little too tightly. There's enough evidence that it's air tight. Richards' army buddies believed Richards when he said that you were trying to ruin his career. They were loyal to their army buddy. They are going away for ten years at least."

"So it's done?"

"Yes Sweets it is done. Hacker wanted me to let you know that with your ribs being broken he is going to give you a month of paid leave. Just take this time to heal up from what happened Sweets."

"I'll be fine. I'm fine."

"You are not fine Sweets and no one expects you to be. You were just attacked last night by four large men, one of which was a fellow Agent. I saw those guys, I interrogated and arrested them. They weren't small at all the last thing they needed was a crowbar, which we found in Walker's car. You are lucky to be alive Sweets. Of course you are not fine, but you will be. If you ever need to talk about what happened you can always come to me. I'll always be willing to listen to you." Booth said sincerely.

"I appreciate that, but I'll be fine. I've been beat up before in school it's no big deal." Sweets said with a small shrug.

"My offer still stands and it always will. Now do you want to stay out here or do you want me to help you go back into the bedroom?"

"I'm fine here. The TV works as a distraction from the pain."

"Ok well why don't you try and get some sleep." Booth said as he got up off the coffee table and went over to the chair and sat down.

"What are you doing?" Sweets asked confused.

"I'm going to stay here for a while to make sure you are okay." Booth said calmly.

"You really don't have to. I'm fine on my own really." Sweets said not understanding why Booth wanted to stay.

"I know you are, but this isn't a time for when someone should be alone. Just try and sleep don't worry about me. I got nothing I would rather do. Sleep Sweets you need it." Booth said gently.

Sweets didn't understand what was going on right now, but he figured he would chalk that up to having the concussion. Sweets was too tired and in too much pain to keep arguing so he just closed his eyes and allowed his body to try and relax and fall asleep where he could escape the pain and all around shitty feeling. Booth watched as Sweets let himself fall asleep. He could see that he was exhausted and in a great deal of pain, more so than he was showing. Booth was worried about how Sweets' mind was doing with all of this. He wasn't fine and Sweets knew he wasn't fine yet he automatically said he was like it was ingrained into him. Booth figured that it probably was which means that those scars wouldn't have been the first time he was abused. Booth wasn't going to leave Sweets alone though with this. He wasn't going to be stuck on him, but he wasn't going anywhere tonight. He was going to make sure that nothing comes up from Sweets' injuries. Booth knew that Sweets was confused about why Booth would want to stay there with him and Booth knew he would need to make a serious effort to get to know Sweets and be there for him. No one could go through life totally alone, because if they did then those people normally die from loneliness. No one deserved to go through life alone and Booth wasn't going to let that happen to Sweets, not while he could do something to stop it. Booth put his feet up on the coffee table and watched Sweets sleep for a little while before he turned his attention to the TV. He wasn't going anywhere tonight no matter what Sweets said.

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It had been a week since the attack on Sweets and Booth was sitting in his office. They had just wrapped up a case and Booth was finishing up some paperwork from his other duties. He had spent the second night with Sweets making sure that he was okay. Booth could tell he was in a great deal of pain and he didn't want to leave Sweets alone when he was in that level of pain. Booth headed home that next day and he had come by once a day to make sure that Sweets was doing okay. The others had gone by to see Sweets and bring him some food for him to just warm up later. Sweets was very appreciative that everyone had come by to see him and check up on him. It was all new to Sweets as he had never had anyone there to check in on him. He was used to doing everything on his own and now it seemed like he didn't have to be so alone as much.

Sweets was still in a great deal of pain. He had a lot of broken ribs and he also had some serious bruising both internally and externally. His voice was still hoarse and it got weaker and weaker the more he spoke. Sweets had spent the week going through his files. He was on leave, but that didn't mean that he didn't have responsibilities as well. He had to refer his patients to a temporary psychologists until he returned. He still had the Agent files that Sweets had to go through to see who was neglecting their duty and who wasn't. Sweets' apartment had become very cluttered with files and file boxes everywhere, but Sweets didn't mind. He was used to the small little apartment. He's only ever lived in small little places so it was normal for him.

Sweets headed into the Bureau and up into the elevator. He had a file box full of files that he needed a second opinion on. He was just wearing simple blue jeans, a red t-shirt and his black leather jacket and converse shoes. It was the first time he had ever shown up this casual before, but he wasn't here on a professional level, he was here to get a second opinion on something. Sweets headed up in the elevator and once there on his floor he made his way through the hallways and through the desks ignoring the looks he was getting from the other Agents. He headed towards Booth's office with the file box in his hands. The door was open so Sweets walked in and Booth looked up and instantly stood up when he saw Sweets and walked around to him as he spoke.

"Sweets, what the hell are you doing here? And carrying a box around?" Booth gently took the file box from Sweets as Sweets spoke.

"I'm fine." Sweets said with a heavy voice. It was the furthest he had walked since being released from the hospital and he was feeling a little shaky.

"Sit down before you fall over." Booth said as he put the file box down on one of the empty chairs before he went and closed the door as he continued to speak. "You have multiple broken bones, serious bruising and pneumonia. You shouldn't be out of bed let alone here. What are you doing here?" Booth asked as he went and leaned against his desk looking at a clearly sick Sweets.

"I was going through the files for Hacker." Sweets started, but Booth cut him off.

"You aren't supposed to be working Sweets."

"I'm not technically, but just because I am injured doesn't mean that I don't have responsibilities still. I need to get the files read through and finished so when I do come back in three weeks I won't be drowning in work. I still have the Agent assessments to do for the annual review. I have my own patients outside of the Agency that I need to see plus profiles for Agents. I need to get these cases reviewed before I come back."

"Ok you have a lot of work that you do I get that, but why are you here and not doing this in your bed?" Booth asked calmly.

"I need your help. I know you are busy, but I need your help." Sweets said awkwardly.

"You need help going through the case files? I don't mind helping you going through them, there has to be hundreds of them for you to read through." Booth said understandingly.

"There's actually five years' worth of files I have to go through. There's thousands and I wouldn't be saying no to getting help reading through them, but that's not it."

"Five years' worth. Holy shit Sweets that is way too many for one person to go through. When are you supposed to have it done?" Booth asked shocked that it was that many files that Sweets had to go through.

"I have three months to get them done before the annual assessment comes up. I also have to do psych evals on every single Agent before that time as well for Hacker and the Deputy Director to include in their assessment."

"That's a lot of work for one person to be doing Sweets. I can talk to Hacker and see if he will let me help you go through those files if you want."

"I wouldn't be saying no to that, but I know you are busy with your own cases and responsibilities."

"Sweets I don't mind helping you go through them. It's a lot for one person to be taking on. I'll talk to Hacker and see if he has a problem with my helping you. If that isn't why you are here, then why are you here?"

"I think I found something really bad, but I don't know if it's just my mind seeing something that's not really there. I am on pain medication and have a slight concussion still. You're the only one that won't be afraid to tell me that I am crazy if I am wrong. And if I am right then the problem is bigger than me and I know you will do what needs to be done no matter what." Sweets said honestly.

"I don't like the sound of this. What do you think you found?" Booth asked in a serious voice.

"I think there is a serial killer."

"Ok whoa that is one hell of a statement. Start at the beginning." Booth said as he went and sat down in the chair next to Sweets once he put the box down on the ground.

"I was going through the files when I started to see a pattern. The files in the box are the ones I've found so far that fit the pattern." Sweets started and Booth opened the box and grabbed a handful of the files as Sweets continued. "They are all the same, but different at the same time. They all appear random and all are killed by different means. All of them are from different races and ages there isn't anything that connects them victimology wise."

"Then what makes you think that they are the works of a serial killer?" Booth asked not understanding where Sweets was going with this.

"Look at the crime scene photos where the body was found." Sweets said understanding that Booth wouldn't see his point.

Booth flipped through to the crime scene photo where the body was found, but it was just an alley he didn't see anything special about it.

"Look at the wall, see the graffiti of the red devil face?" Sweets said calmly.

Booth looked at the alley wall and he could see the devil face. It was just in the background and it wasn't a close up shot, but Booth could see it.

"Ya I see it. Does that mean something?" Booth asked.

"Probably. I've found that same thing on alley walls in fifty files. All in different parts of the city in just the past three years alone and that's just the files I've gone through so far. One or two crime scenes it's a coincidence, but fifty in all areas of the city seems hard to believe for a coincidence."

Booth looked through a few more crime scene photos from different files and sure enough there was the devil face spray painted on the walls as well.

"Was there anything else that you noticed?" Booth asked as he looked at Sweets.

"The crimes all come across as random and disorganized. They read as a heat of the moment kills. There was no forethought or after thought. The killer didn't try and clean up the mess they just left the body where they killed them. Out of the fifty files thirty-three of them had arrests that went to trial and they were found innocent. They were ex-boyfriend or girlfriends, spouses, anyone that had a motive really that the Agent would pin it on. Seventeen were arrested and found guilty, but from what I have read they are innocent. Some have been sitting in prison for the past three years completely innocent. Booth, all of these files were handled by one Agent. Agent Anderson." Sweets explained as his voice began to grow hoarse.

"Wait all fifty files?" Booth asked shocked.

"Ya I checked twice. Over half of them he wasn't even on duty when the call came in. He stated he was in the area and took the case."

"You're right, there is a serious problem. Cases get handled by different Agents you can understand why they didn't make a connection. But you handle fifty cases and all of them have the same devil face by the body there is no way you don't make a connection by the time the fifth case comes around. You obviously have a profile in your head, does Anderson fit it?"

"The profile isn't that simple. The crimes read as disorganized and they are, but there are some inconstancies with that. Like how all of these people are killed right where the devil face is. Some were alone for blocks before the attack, there were other opportunities for the killer to strike. Yet the killer strikes the victim right where the devil face is and all were killed by whatever the killer could get his hands on in the alley at the time of the kill. If the killer is that disorganized then why does he wait to kill them when they are near the devil face? Why paint the devil face on the walls before or after the kills? Someone who is so disorganized that they are killing random people, in random parts of the city with whatever weapon was laying around at the time. They wouldn't spray paint a devil face before or after the kills. That is something that an organized killer would do."

"Meaning what?" Booth said not fully understanding Sweets' point.

"Meaning there is only two ways this plays out and all of them include partners. The first, there is a dominate partner who is controlling the submissive partner into killing these people. The dominate would have a reason for why these people and not someone else. The submissive kills them where the dominate has placed the devil face on the wall. The dominate in this case would be Anderson. He is either keeping the same submissive partner or after a while he kills the submissive partner and finds himself a new one. He works the cases so he can cover up the crimes with an innocent person. The second option is that there is a dominate and a submissive partnership. The dominate is controlling the submissive partner into the killings for his own personal reasons. The dominate may or may not be killing the submissive partners over time. The dominate has something on Anderson and he is using Anderson to cover up the crimes. Either way these killings are done by a partnership and like all serial killers they won't stop until they are caught."

"Shit. So this is why Anderson had such a huge problem with you reviewing his one case. He didn't want you to find any of these. How many more of his files do you have to go through?"

"In five years, about five hundred of them and that is assuming this only goes back five years. Anderson has been in the Bureau for fifteen years. So I'm not crazy or seeing something that wasn't there?" Sweets asked looking to hear it from Booth.

"You're not seeing something Sweets. This doesn't sound good or look good. Fifty cases is too many cases to oversee. What happened to the ones that were found not guilty?"

"They went to the cold case file and haven't been opened since. What do we do?"

"I'm going to call Hacker and have him meet us in your office where we can talk without anyone paying attention to us in here. Your office is more private and away from everyone else. Then we will figure out where to go from there. I have a feeling though that Bones is going to want to exhume these bodies to see for herself if there was anything missed." Booth said as he got up and picked up his office phone to call Hacker in his office.

"Can she do that?"

"Caroline will have to clear it and get warrants from a judge, but with your profile and proof that all of these bodies were found by the same graffiti it should be enough to prove it was a serial killer." Booth answered as Hacker answered his phone.

"Assistant Director Hacker."

"Hacker, it's Booth. We have a situation here Sir that I need to speak to you about."

"What kind of situation?"

"One that needs to be explained in person. Could you come down to Sweets' office and we can discuss it?" Booth asked.

"I'll be right there."

Hacker ended the call and Booth placed his phone back down.

"Let's get into your office. We can talk more about this there where someone won't overhear us." Booth said.

Sweets just gave a nod and he slowly stood up. Booth could tell he was still in a great deal of pain and he couldn't blame him. He had just gotten seriously injured barely a week ago plus he was sick. Booth could tell that Sweets was also exhausted. He was clearly not sleeping enough from either the pain, working or both. Booth figured it was both. Sweets was working because he couldn't sleep from the pain. Booth knew he would need to keep a closer eye on Sweets so he wasn't pushing himself and not healing properly. Booth had done it many times in the past. He had worked when he shouldn't have and his body was a wreck from it. Because he didn't take proper care of himself when he was injured or sick he now dealt with pain first thing in the morning from all of his joints being put through hell over the years. He didn't want Sweets to damage his body further like he had done because he didn't take it easy when he should have.

"You okay?" Booth asked with concern as he went to help Sweets stand up fully.

"I'm fine." Sweets said with a heavy voice.

"Ok why do people do that? Why do people say they are fine when they clearly aren't fine? Tell me why." Booth said with genuine interest.

"Socially speaking people naturally say they are fine when they are not because they want to fit the social standards that society has placed over the centuries. By saying when something is wrong they open themselves up to being told they are weak or just complaining. It's a behaviour that is naturally ingrained into children as they grow up and that is passed down through generations. That instinct can become more ingrained if a child goes through a hard life where being anything other than fine could lead to a negative reaction. So it's actually both sociology and psychology." Sweets answered.

"You know Sweets me and you are gonna need to have a conversation about a few things later." Booth said in a serious voice.

"About what?" Sweets asked and he couldn't keep the worry and slight fear from his voice.

"Just a few things. Nothing to worry about. Come on let's go deal with this first." Booth said with a gentle smile as he picked up the box of files.

They both made their way out of Booth's office and down to Sweets' office so they could speak in private about what Sweets had discovered. Booth walked slowly so Sweets wouldn't have to try and keep up. Sweets was thankful for that as he was really starting to hurt. He was only used to moving around his very small apartment and that was only when he had to. Having taken a cab here and then walking inside, up the elevator and to Booth's office his body had enough. He was looking forward to being back home where he could sit in his bed and go over some more case files. When they finally reached Sweets' office they headed in to see Hacker was already there and waiting for them. He looked annoyed that he had to wait until he saw Sweets and then the annoyance turned into understanding.

"You need to sit down Sweets." Booth said as he placed a gentle hand on Sweets' arm to guide him over to the couch and helped him sit down. Sweets didn't flinch at Booth's touch this time and that was something Booth was happy about. He was hoping it meant that Sweets was getting used to his touch now after the past week.

"How are you feeling Dr. Sweets?" Hacker asked as Sweets sat down on the couch and sat back with a shaky voice.

"I'm fine Sir." Sweets said with a heavy voice that was filled with pain and exhaustion.

"He's not fine don't listen to him." Booth said as he put the box of files down on the coffee table.

"What was so important that you needed to discuss it in here?" Hacker asked moving this along.

Booth went over to the blinds and closed them as he spoke.

"Sweets was going through some case files for the evaluations." Booth started, but Hacker cut him off.

"You are supposed to be on medical leave Dr. Sweets. Why are you working?"

"It's a lot to go through Sir. With this time off I figured I could use it to go through some of the files. There are literally thousands of them Sir." Sweets explained.

"Thousands? How many years did you have to go back? I thought it was only going to be two years." Hacker said as he was originally told it would be just two years from his bosses.

"It was changed to five years for every Agent." Sweets said.

"That's too much for one person to go through. You'll need someone to help you go through them all. You only have three months to get them all in plus the psych evaluations." Hacker said.

"I was going to ask if it would be alright if I helped Sweets with the case files. I know I'm not a shrink, but I can review case files and keep track of their solve rate." Booth said.

"That's fine with me as long as Dr. Sweets doesn't mind." Hacker easily agreed.

"It's fine. I would love the help on it to ensure it gets completed on time."

"Obviously Booth you can't do your own case files." Hacker said.

"I've already completed Agent Booth's case files." Sweets said.

"Really? How'd I do?" Booth asked with a modest smile.

"Very well actually. So far you have the lowest cold case rate. You've even managed to solve a good number of cold cases from other Agents. Having the resources from the Jeffersonian has truly helped and benefitted the Bureau. You can see the difference in Agent Booth's cases from five years ago compared to four years ago. Before he didn't have the resources that he does now and that brought a slowing solve time due to having to wait on evidence. Working with the Jeffersonian has eliminated that waiting time allowing Agent Booth to solve not only more cases, but faster as well. Not to mention the number of cold cases he was able to solve when previously the Bureau didn't have the ability to solve." Sweets answered to both Hacker and Booth.

"And everyone thought I was crazy to be working with them." Booth said with a cocky smirk.

"Can you write up a report for me stating just that? There has been some talk from the upper brass about not seeing the benefit of having the outside help from the Jeffersonian. Having some solid proof to show that they are an asset would help me prove to them to continue to allow Agent Booth to use them." Hacker said.

"I can totally do that. You could even argue that they could begin working the cold cases themselves while Agent Booth doesn't have an active case. That might please them as nothing looks better to the press than solving cold cases." Sweets said.

"Do you think they would be willing to take on some cold cases?" Hacker asked Booth.

"They love cold cases. The older the better. They all like the challenge and working cases gives them that." Booth answered.

"Add in their need and desire to achieve justice and their need to challenge their intelligence. The harder the better for them." Sweets added.

"Good I can use that as a selling point if it comes down to it. Between their willingness to help and the added solve rate time, they can't give me a reason to not utilize them. Now what was so important that we needed to speak about it in here?" Hacker asked getting them back on track.

"Like I said I was going through some of the case files and I found something weird." Sweets started.

"Weird how?" Hacker asked.

"I was going through them by Agent and I was on Agent Anderson's case files. So far I've only gone through a hundred of them, they aren't in order just the ones that have been closed the latest through the courts and were finalized to be placed down in the file room or the cold case room. I found a serial killer that Agent Anderson missed." Sweets answered.

"Are you sure?" Hacker asked and it was clear he was now worried as an Agent missing something this important was a serious issue on many levels.

"He brought fifty case files here to me so I could look at them. I haven't gone through them all just a couple, but Sweets is right something is wrong." Booth said.

"Wrong like he missed that we have a serial killer?" Hacker asked hoping that was what Booth was getting at with having to talk in private.

"More like he is the serial killer or working for him." Booth said.

"Most likely he is working for the serial killer." Sweets added.

Hacker ran his hands over his face for a moment before he spoke.

"Start at the top. What do we know?"

"I came across the first case file Melissa Reid, she is the most recent victim that I have found so far. Her murder occurred four months ago and Agent Anderson was first on scene. He was off duty that night, but came because according to him he was in the area and saw the commotion. Personally took the case to help ease the stress off local PD, according to him. She was killed and found in a side alley down on Jackson just before Pine. She was killed with blunt force trauma to her head. Agent Anderson believed it was from a piece of wood that they found all busted in a pool of her blood. He arrived on scene at just after six in the morning and by noon he had made an arrest. Her ex-boyfriend, Eric Denver, they had a few arguments that had the police being called. He's never physically hurt the victim in the past and Agent Anderson claimed it was escalation. He didn't wait for any physical evidence to come back from the lab. He arrested Denver on speculation alone. Denver had no alibi for the time of the killing, but he stated he was at home alone sleeping. Denver is currently still sitting in prison waiting for his trial, but he's innocent." Sweets started.

"What makes this a serial killer?" Hacker asked.

"There was a painted red devil's face on the wall of the alley. I don't know if it was there before or after the kills. I believe it was before to mark the location for the kill. On all fifty cases I've come across they all have the exact same red devil's face all over the city. I checked there is no gang affiliated with a red devil's face within the city. All of the victims appear to be random and killed all in a different way and always with whatever was available at the time. Agent Anderson has not made the connection and by fifty cases he should have. Thirty-three of the people that were arrested were found innocent and those cases are now considered cold. Seventeen though were found guilty and are in prison, some for three years. If I'm right and I know I am, they are innocent and just the escape goat Agent Anderson used to close the case off quickly. There was only circumstantial evidence at best for any of those cases. They just had bad luck compared to the people that were found innocent." Sweets finished.

"You know just as well as I do that after fifty cases Anderson should have made the connection. A rookie Agent would have made the connection long before fifty cases. Five ya okay maybe, but no more than that." Booth said.

"I found it in two." Sweets said.

"And Sweets isn't an Agent. There's no way an Agent of fifteen years missed this." Booth said.

"How far back does this go?" Hacker asked Sweets.

"I don't know yet. I've only gone through a hundred case files. So far it looks like it goes back at least three years. I won't know until I go through all five years' worth of case files and even then I might have to go further back. He's not the serial killer though. He's just the one covering it all up." Sweets answered.

"Who are we looking for?" Hacker asked.

"Someone that is intelligent enough to organize these murders to look disorganized. My gut is telling me that this is a copycat." Sweets said in a serious voice.

"Copycat of who though? I've never heard of any serial killer like this." Hacker said.

"That's because he doesn't exist as a serial killer. And the information on him is classified. I only know of him because I was granted access to the information four years ago to create a profile on him. I can't say much about it, but I can say that the M.O was the same. Random people in a random alley all across the city. He had been killing for fifty-seven years completely unnoticed. He had a great deal of money that he paid officials off including Federal Agents and Coroners. Always worked with a partner that he could control and manipulate into doing the actual killing. He also had a Federal Agent to do the cleanup and cover up any connection between the murders. Every five years or so he would kill both using his new partner and new Federal Agent. He's never physically done any killing that could be connected to him. The only thing linking any of the murders was the symbol he left at each crime scene. Every five years it would change with his new partner." Sweets said.

"I've never heard of this guy. How could no one notice fifty-seven years of murders? Where is this guy?" Booth asked with anger that someone could get away with murder for so long.

"Ya that's the thing. When I was asked to do a profile for him he was seventy-five. Two years later he died from a heart attack. At least that's what everyone believes." Sweets answered.

"What do you mean?" Hacker asked.

"Everyone believes he's dead. His body was recovered in his home, finger prints and dental were taken as a precaution. I've never believed it though. No one believed me and the cases were closed to solve. He would be eighty this year." Sweets said.

"Why didn't you believe it?" Booth asked in a serious voice.

"It was just a gut feeling. It didn't feel right to me. He had a lot of money and even three years ago he could have easily gotten his hands on a beta blocker and stopped his heart. It would put him in a temporary death state for a couple of hours. The coroner that was used for his body was suspected in taking money from him. It wouldn't have been hard to get what he needed. His body was never claimed and cremated a couple days later. No one believed me though, said I was crazy and paranoid. I had no choice, but to let it go. It's the same M.O."

"You are the top psychologist in the country. Your gut is worth a lot to me." Hacker said.

"And me. This guy would be eighty though. Is it possible he could have told someone what he was doing? Maybe took on an apprentice?" Booth asked.

"I don't know it's possible. I don't think an apprentice, but he was the leader of an old mob. Members within his organization that were younger would have known what was going on. It's possible that one of them has taken up his mantle in the past three years." Sweets answered.

"But you don't think so." Booth stated.

"No I don't. I think serial killers don't stop killing until they are dead or in jail. And if I am right then there will be more case files than this, a lot more. He killed one person a week every single week. That's a hundred and forty-four people in the past three years." Sweets said.

"For fifty-seven years?" Booth asked shocked.

"Roughly. The first two years he didn't kill that many, but he has a total of about twenty-eight hundred victims. More if you count all of the innocent people that spent time in jail because of the Federal Agents that were covering it up. He would be the best serial killer in history if people actually knew about him. It was never made public because of the nature of the original investigation. If this is a copycat than it would have to be someone very close to the original killer." Sweets said.

"And who was that? He might have a son or a daughter." Hacker said.

"Its top level classified. I can't reveal that information not without committing treason." Sweets said.

"Without that name though Sweets we can't look into this case fully. We need a name at least so we can run it to see if he has any children or a younger sibling. We won't look into anything classified just basic information on him. Something to give us a place to start." Booth said calmly.

Booth knew that to Sweets his word meant a great deal. He always kept his word, he always kept the secrets no matter what. That was his job, but that was his character he didn't betray anyone and that included his country. They needed that name though so they could begin to look in a direction. They could see if they could confirm that this man was actually dead. Booth knew it wouldn't be that hard to fake a death if you had enough money and the right people on your pay roll. He also trusted Sweets' gut as he was hardly ever wrong. Why someone wouldn't believe him Booth didn't know. Sweets knew what he was talking about and his skills were undeniable. Even Booth could see that and he hated therapists. After a moment Sweets spoke.

"Rasputin Romani."

"We need to keep this outside of this building. Until we know for sure what is exactly going on. Have the Jeffersonian working this with you." Hacker said.

"Bones is gonna want to exhume some of these bodies and look at them herself." Booth said.

"I figured. Call Caroline and make it happen. We need to know just how many of these cases Agent Anderson has covered up." Hacker said.

"I'll go through the rest of his files today so we know tomorrow." Sweets said.

"Sweets." Booth started, but Sweets cut him off.

"I'll do it from home in my bed. I'll just look through the crime scene photos and take any case that is related out. I won't read all of them."

"Alright fine, but I am taking you home and I will pick up the files tomorrow morning. You need to rest Sweets or you'll never heal." Booth said in a no argument tone.

Sweets just gave a nod.

"Make this happen and let me know everything when it happens. For now I will keep an eye on Agent Anderson and keep track of any new cases that come in for him. We need this solved quickly and as quietly as possible. Have Caroline working on release forms for those seventeen people who are in prison. If this does come back that they are innocent we need to be ready to have them out of there." Hacker said.

"I'll make sure she knows the situation so she is ready for the worst outcome. I'll let the Jeffersonian know what to prepare for if we can get these bodies exhumed that's going to be at least fifty bodies." Booth said.

"Make sure they are willing and ready. I want bodies being exhumed by tomorrow morning at the latest. Get on it Booth." Hacker said.

"Yes Sir." Booth said.

"Keep me posted. Dr. Sweets make sure you are resting and healing. That's an order."

"Yes Sir." Sweets said.

Hacker headed out of the office and Booth pulled his phone out. He decided to call Caroline first and get her started on this before he would call Bones and let her know. After three rings Caroline answered.

"Hello."

"Caroline I need a huge favor from you." Booth started.

"Well this better be good."

"I need court orders for fifty bodies to be exhumed and brought to the Jeffersonian right away."

"Fifty bodies? What the hell do you take me for a miracle worker?" Caroline asked annoyed and shocked.

"Yes I do. You are amazing and the best. That's why you can do this. They may be connected to a serial killer that is using a Federal Agent in this building to cover them up. There may be seventeen innocent people in jail right now because of it. I need those bodies Caroline and I need em now."

"God Lord Booth you are going to put me in an early grave. Alright I will see what I can do, but I make no promises. I'm assuming you need me to keep this whole Federal Agent part out of it."

"Ya and Hacker wants you to work on release orders for those seventeen people just in case they are officially innocent and we need to get them out of jail."

"I'll get to work on it and see what I can do. Send me the information. You are going to owe me big for this Cherie."

"I know I will, but it's worth it."

"I'll let you know."

"Thanks Caroline."

Booth ended the call and turned to Sweets.

"Caroline will take care of it and hopefully tomorrow morning Bones will have some bodies to look at. Did the previous bodies have anything in common from the original killer?"

"Nothing that was ever found. No one really looked at them from what I can tell though. They were handled as a simple homicide, basic autopsy was done and it was signed off. There might be something on the bodies that was missed. I don't know." Sweets said and he was sounding even more tired and his voice was getting even weaker.

"Alright. Let's get you home and then I will head over to Bones and get her caught up."

Sweets just gave a nod and he slowly stood up. Booth placed a gentle hand on his arm and helped Sweets up. He could feel Sweets shaking slightly and it was clear his body had enough.

"You need to rest Sweets and let your body heal. Take it from me and my messed up body because I didn't rest when I was supposed to. You're too young to be waking up in pain every morning for the rest of your life." Booth said calmly with a caring voice.

"I'll rest I will. I can go over the case files in my bed."

Booth picked up the file box and they slowly made their way out of Sweets' office and down the elevator to Booth's vehicle. Once inside the vehicle Sweets put his head back and closed his eyes. He needed to try and get the pain under control and the only way he knew how was mind over matter. It was something he learnt when he was very young. It was the only way his mind would survive everything he had been through. If he could focus his mind on something other than the pain, other than the horrible reality that he faced every single day. He had gotten very good at creating his own little world within his mind. One where he had a loving family, a warm place to sleep at night and food in his belly. It had helped him to stay sane during some of the worst times in his life. Now all Sweets wanted was for the pain to go away so his mind could truly focus. This case was bringing up some bad memories, memories that he wanted to stay buried and Sweets was worried that those memories wouldn't with the longer this case goes on for. He didn't want this secret to get out. He didn't want to deal with the backlash that it would bring. He just wanted to start a new life and try to forget and move on from his past. Sweets knew he needed to try and get some real sleep. His mind would only get worse without proper sleep. He needed his mind to focus so he could get this case closed and move on from it.

Booth didn't say anything the whole way to Sweets' apartment. He knew that Sweets was in a great deal of pain and talking would only hurt his jaw, throat and ribs. Booth knew they needed to have a serious conversation about a few things, but they could wait until he was rested a little bit more. Booth figured that he could talk to Sweets tomorrow at some point and see what was going on with him. They weren't really close, but Booth couldn't just ignore this and let Sweets continue to live this way. He had been by every night this week to see Sweets and he had seen that he wasn't sleeping that great. Booth knew that Sweets would have some nightmares after being attacked. It was only natural for it to happen. Just like it was natural for the attack to bring back some memories from when he was younger and abused at some point. As much as Booth didn't want to talk about it he also wanted to know more about what happened. At least the basic information about it. He was saved by his grandfather, but Booth knew that he wouldn't have lasted long if his grandfather hadn't stepped in. Booth couldn't help, but wonder if Sweets had someone to step in and get him out of the bad situation or if he was trapped in it for years until he was able to finally get himself out. The problem was as much as Sweets could talk he didn't often talk about himself. At least nothing serious anyways. Booth also knew that he had given no reason for Sweets to share at all with him. He hadn't been exactly accepting of him and his job. Booth knew he had to try though and be more accepting and understanding of Sweets' job. He was very good at it even if Booth just had a natural dislike for therapists. Booth knew he needed to try and put that dislike aside and try to see Sweets for more than just a therapist. He was a person, someone that had obviously been through more than Booth ever thought possible. He deserved an honest chance and that was exactly what Booth was going to be giving him.

Once they arrived at Sweets' apartment. Sweets opened his eyes and removed his seatbelt as he spoke.

"Thanks for the ride."

"I'll walk you up to make sure you get in okay." Booth said as he removed his own seatbelt.

"You don't have to do that." Sweets automatically said.

"I know I don't, but I'm gonna anyways. Come on." Booth said as he opened his door.

Sweets knew he didn't really have much of a choice so he opened his own door and slowly got out of the vehicle. His whole body was stiff and sore now from sitting in the car. He really just wanted to get home, take a pain pill and relax in bed. He would go over the case files first so he could just rest afterwards. Booth placed a gentle hand on Sweets' arm to help guide him inside. His body was shaking slightly from exhaustion and pain. Booth knew that Sweets needed to rest and get inside so he could sleep and try to feel better. He was still sick with pneumonia and he needed to get that taken care of as well. The longer he had it the more rundown he would be and the more dangerous it would be for Sweets. Once they got inside Sweets' apartment Sweets slowly removed his jacket and placed it over the back of his couch.

"Thanks again Agent Booth. I'll have the files ready for tomorrow morning for you." Sweets said with a faint voice.

"Don't worry too much about it. Get some rest Sweets. You desperately need it. I can stay for a little while if you want."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine. I'll see you in the morning."

"Alright. Get some sleep Sweets that's more important than any case file right now. I'll see you in the morning for nine."

Sweets just gave a nod and Booth headed out of the apartment and back down to his vehicle. Once he was alone Sweets went and locked his door before he went into the kitchen to grab a glass of water before he made his way down the small hallway to his bathroom. He took a pain pill before he went into his bedroom to get changed into some sweat pants and a t-shirt before he grabbed the ten boxes filled with case files just for Agent Anderson and placed them on his bed. Sweets then crawled under the covers and began to go through the case files. Tomorrow was going to be another long day and Sweets knew he would need to be there for it. For the rest of the afternoon and tonight he would go through these files as quickly as he could so he could get some much needed sleep. With that in mind Sweets grabbed the first case file and began to look through it with sleep filled eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was eight in the morning when Booth headed up to Sweets' apartment. Caroline had been able to get twenty bodies exhumed while she was still working on the other court orders. All of the bodies were sent to the Jeffersonian to be examined by Bones and her team. Booth went over there yesterday to explain the situation and he figured they were all excited at the idea of working a serial killer case with this many bodies. They were all very interested and intrigued being on the case and see if they could confirm the theory or not. Bones was going to have her two best interns working with her on this constantly until they were able to get the number down on the remains. There was supposed to be fifty cases coming their way plus more if Sweets found any more cases. This was looking to be a huge project and they would need to be careful and work quickly to get it solved before any more bodies turned up.

Booth knocked on the door and waited for Sweets to answer. He had sent him a text this morning so he knew that he would be coming by to pick up any of the files. After a moment Sweets opened the door and Booth was shocked to find him dressed. He was wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt and his black leather jacket with his converse shoes once again. Sweets stepped back to let Booth in as Booth spoke.

"Why are you dressed?"

"I'm coming with you." Sweets simply stated as he went into the kitchen to take his anti-biotic with a drink of his coffee.

"You should be in bed Sweets not out in the Jeffersonian all day."

"No one knows this case better than me. If I'm right you are going to need me. This guy has alluded the police and all of the ABC Agencies for sixty years. I've already done a profile on him from before. You need me."

"Fine, but you are sitting for most of the day. I mean it Sweets you can't push yourself with this. You have six broken ribs not to mention the other injuries. You need to be taking it easy."

"I know I'll be fine. I went through the rest of Agent Anderson's case files and I was able to find two hundred and ten other cases he worked where a red devil's face was painted on a wall. A total of two hundred and sixty which matches the one a week scenario."

"Damn. How many are in jail?"

"Including the seventeen we found, seventy-three. I guess we should be happy that Agent Anderson really sucks as an Agent and getting convictions. I won't know until I can get more case files from him in previous years to see how long this has been going on for. If it sticks to Romani's MO then it's only been going on for five years and Agent Anderson is soon going to be killed for a new Agent to take his place."

"Hacker is watching him and I'll call him and have him place some protection on Anderson. I'll also request for more case files going back another five years to be on the safe side. Let's hit the road you ready?"

"Ya." Sweets grabbed his keys while Booth grabbed the two paper boxes that were filed with case files and they headed out. Sweets locked the door and they made their way to the small elevator as Sweets spoke.

"I was thinking we should look back at any Agents that were killed five years ago and see their case files. If this is Romani or someone close enough to stick to the MO that Agent will have similar case files. There could be more innocent people in jail."

"But this guy died four years ago you said right?"

"No I got brought in for a profile four years ago, two years ago he apparently died."

"So going back five years he could have been the one behind this for the first three years, but these last two someone else has to of taken over. Or he is still alive." Booth said as they got off the elevator and headed for his SUV.

"Basically. And if that is the scenario, that he is dead, whoever took up the mantle had to be very close to him."

Booth put the two boxes in the back seat as they got into the SUV. He started it as he spoke.

"Wait four years ago you were brought in for a profile, you were nineteen at the time. Why would you be doing a high-classified profile for the FBI while in school?"

"I wasn't exactly a normal nineteen year old. I was in the middle of getting my second doctorate when the FBI approached me. They didn't know who to trust within the FBI with this so they went outside for a profiler. I was top of my class and my background was clean."

"Right I forgot that you have two doctorates. How old were you when you first started?"

"Why, you writing a book on me?" Sweets lightly joked.

"No I was just curious. It's not exactly a personal question Sweets. You know some things about me and I don't really know anything about you."

"I was your therapist it's my job to know things about you and Dr. Brennan. I had to read your files and add in my own notes. It's natural for me to know things about you both."

"I get that Sweets, but I'd like to know things about you. I don't need to know your darkest secrets but something would be nice."

"I was fourteen when I began University. I started working for the FBI as a psychologist the day before you and Dr. Brennan became my patients."

"Oh so we were your first?" Booth asked as he didn't know Sweets had just started.

"You were."

"Did you have your own practice before?"

"No I got hired by the FBI right out of school. They offered me a position with them to help their Agents and I could still see my own patients. It made sense to be hired by an outside source and still be able to charge my own patients an hourly rate. I had to make sure the Agents were taken care of first."

"Did you always want to work for the FBI?"

"Never thought about it. They approached me and I agreed to it. I've always wanted to help people and the FBI offered me a place where I could help Agents overcome their traumas they have experienced and help create profiles to put criminals behind bars. I've always believed that people can be saved if good people help them. The FBI seemed like the best place where I could help a great deal of good people. Why did you pick the FBI over other practices and Agencies?"

"Seemed like a logical move. The FBI allowed me the opportunity to still be in the field and stop the bad guys. I get to still serve my country. With my service in the Army I didn't have to go through the academy just a serious of tests to prove I'm capable to handle the physical aspect of the job. It fit for me after being at war."

"You served for eight years right?"

"Officially I did, but I also went back over when they absolutely needed me. Since I've been out of the Army I've gone back eight times."

"I know this isn't the best time for this, but I have to do your psych evaluation. Is anything bothering you? Nightmares? Problems at work?"

"Really you want to do this now?"

"Figured it was better to do it now then back at my office for an hour."

"I'm good Sweets. What about you?"

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine Sweets. Even if you weren't attacked you aren't fine."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"You haven't exactly been living Sweets. There's nothing personal in your apartment. You barely have any food in there. It's depressing, your apartment is depressing and you know that. That's not what a healthy person's place looks like and if that was an apartment of one of your patients you would say the exact same thing."

"I haven't had much time to move in fully. And I'm hardly there. I'm at work most hours in the day. When I do go to the apartment I usually bring takeout with me and work on reports before I go to sleep. There's nothing to read into." Sweets said slightly defensive.

"The apartment? Not home? The apartment." Booth said with a slight concern.

"What?" Sweets asked confused.

"You called it the apartment. You didn't call it your home."

"It's just a place to live. You don't need to read into it Agent Booth."

"I think for a Shrink that is one hell of a thing to say. How long have you lived there?"

"Why does it matter?" Sweets asked slightly annoyed, but Booth didn't take offense.

"I think you know why it matters. You know I was abused by my father growing up. Why didn't you say anything Sweets?"

"I wasn't abused by my father so how would it be relevant?"

"It doesn't have to be your father Sweets. You still knew how I felt about it. You could have used it as a way to connect and get me to open up about it like other Shrinks would have done."

"You saw me as a certain type that fit into your view of someone my age and someone in my profession. All you saw was a twenty-two year old Shrink nothing else mattered after that. You were never going to talk about anything personal or difficult no matter what I said. Besides that fact, I don't like talking about it, I don't talk about it. I wasn't about to try and force you to talk about it. It wasn't my place to talk to you about your childhood. I was there to make sure you and Dr. Brennan's partnership was holding together after you arrested her father. There was no other reason for you to even be there."

"What I don't need therapy?"

"Not in my opinion. Therapy is meant for people with mental issues from biological reasons such as Bi-Polar Disorder and other mental health issues. It's meant for people who have gone through horrific trauma and they can't function with everyday life. You, like most Federal Agents or soldiers, have found a way to overcome what you have experienced in your life. Originally it was gambling, but you were able to overcome that and replace it with a positive outlet for the horrors that you have experienced on the job and as a soldier. You are able to have a positive relationship with a woman. You don't need therapy Agent Booth. On the occasion you need to talk to a third party to work something out, but that is human nature. Everyone has the need to talk to someone at some point in their life and it's easier to do so with a third party. Someone that holds no judgement and is understanding is generally easier to talk to when dealing with a personal problem. You and Dr. Brennan have a solid partnership which gives you the ability to have someone there to talk to about the harder emotions and memories of your childhood or casework. You both are fine in the grand scheme of things."

"Huh and here I would have thought you would have made some connection to my father and why I would need therapy to move passed it all."

"You're not the only Agent in the FBI to be abused by a parent. The statistic is actually the other way around. Not all extreme, but abuse none-the-less. Your anger towards your father is justified after what he did to you. I'm angry at my father and I don't even know him. You don't let your anger towards your father cloud your judgement with potential subjects or cases. If it did then you would be required to be in therapy. When I press in a session about a topic or a comment it's not because I think you both need professional help it's because I know there is something there that needs to be talked about. It's not healthy to keep certain things bottled up inside of you, because one day the person always explodes and either hurts themselves or someone else. I don't want that to happen to anyone. So I push to try and get the other person to see that there is something that needs to be worked out. It doesn't have to be worked out with me, but it needs to be worked out so you can take on more cases and continue to be mentally and emotionally healthy. It's what I want for everyone and all of my patients."

"I know all you want to do is help people. It's why people become Shrinks, to help people. But who helps you Sweets? You told the doctor that you didn't have any family and you had no friends. So who is there for you when you need to talk?"

"I'm a trained Psychologist I can work through my own problems. I have the training for it."

"You can't just talk to yourself Sweets. You need someone else to talk to, to bounce ideas off of, to vent. You went to multiple Universities, how do you not have any friends from that? You must have at least one friend."

"I was younger than everyone in University and not well liked because of it and because I was smarter than them. I work a lot so I don't socialize outside of work and any socializing in work doesn't tend to go well due to the same reasons from University. I'm used to it."

"That's a sad way to live Sweets. You get up in the morning, you go to work, you spend all your time at work, then you go home with takeout do more work, sleep and then do it all over again. That's not living Sweets. You know that. You would tell any patient the same thing. You're twenty-four you should be living your life and not working yourself to death. Especially with the job you have. You might not see what I see every day, but you help with profiles for different Agents. You still see death and pain. You need an outlet away from that or you'll be the one that explodes."

"I play poker sometimes."

"Gambling, really not a great outlet Sweets."

"I'm not addicted to it Agent Booth. I can go and play a few hands of poker in the month and have no problem walking away from it."

"You any good?"

"Very good. Paid for my schooling with it."

"You played while in school?"

"I did. I had to make money somehow."

"You couldn't get a job?"

"Just minimum wage and it wasn't enough to cover living expenses while in College and then University. I was younger remember." Sweets said as they pulled into the Jeffersonian parking lot.

"Wait you were fourteen. How did you play poker? In the dorms?"

"No underground poker dens." Sweets answered as he removed his seatbelt and got out of the SUV.

"Hold up right now. Underground poker dens?" Booth asked as he got out of the car and grabbed the boxes.

"Ya you know the type that don't check for ID. It worked well. I've always been very good at telling when someone was lying, always been observant."

"Clearly I have made many wrong assumptions about you. You have levels Sweets." Booth said as they walked to the main door.

"What do you mean?" Sweets asked confused.

"I mean you have different depths to who you are. On the surface you come across as a Shrink kid who hasn't experienced anything horrible in life. But that's just the image you put on in the morning. That's your professional image, but it's not the full picture of you. You have levels. Illegal poker den playing levels. Levels that we will be talking about more eventually. I'm going to discover them all."

"Why does it matter? You don't like me or respect what I do. Why does it matter what levels I have?" Sweets simply asked like it wasn't a painful topic.

"I never said I don't like you. I made some bad judgements on you that was biased and for that I'm sorry. I respect what you do Sweets. I don't like when you shrink me, but I do respect what you are capable of doing. You're profiles have helped put murderers behind bars. You helped locate a missing child just last week. I respect what you do even though I don't know how you do it. I'm sorry for making you think and feel like I don't like you or respect you." Booth said as he stopped to face Sweets.

"It's fine." Sweets said with a shrug as he reached to open the door and held it open for Booth.

"I'm here Sweets if you ever need to talk." Booth said as he looked at Sweets before he walked through the door.

"I appreciate that."

Sweets followed Booth through the Jeffersonian and headed to the main lab where the others would be. They walked through the door and saw that everyone was on the platform working on the bodies. Bones had called in Clark and Wendell to help her with the bones. Booth put the two paper boxes down on the platform so they could be looked at later. He would normally do it in his office, but due to the nature of the case it was better to be doing it here where he didn't have to worry about anyone see the files.

"Dr. Sweets you should be at home resting and not here in the lab." Bones said as she saw Sweets.

"Ya man, you need rest." Hodgins said.

"I'm fine." Sweets said.

"Bones, what do you got for me?" Booth asked knowing that Sweets wasn't going to let this go.

"So far all I can confirm is the basic information on each set of remains. I need the bones cleaned so I can examine them fully to confirm cause of death. I also need the other set of remains that you mentioned." Bones answered.

"Caroline is working on it. It's a lot of bodies and that number just went up. Like way up." Booth said.

"How much is way up?" Wendell asked.

"Two hundred and ten." Booth answered.

"Whoa what?" Hodgins asked shocked.

"Sweets found two hundred and ten more cases that were all found in a side alley with a red devil's face painted on the wall." Booth said.

"That's a lot of cases to be overlooked though. Are you sure the devil's face is significant?" Cam asked.

"The killings were spread out all over the city. It's highly unlikely that there is a gang that fills this city with that marking and law enforcement doesn't know about it. I believe that the devil's face was painted before the victim was killed to mark the place where his partner was to make the kill." Sweets answered.

"But two hundred and ten and no one noticed? Seems highly unlikely." Bones said.

"If Sweets' theory is correct then we're looking at a serial killer responsible for close to three thousand deaths over fifty-seven years." Booth said.

"Come on seriously? How would that be possible?" Angela asked skeptically.

"The potential killer had been killing for fifty-seven years before it was brought to my attention to create a profile on him. He had at that point killed one person a week, every single week. He had twenty-eight hundred victims all of which were covered up by a different Federal Agent that he blackmailed for five years before killing the Agent and his partner off. He would then repeat the process with a new partner and blackmailing a new Federal Agent. All of the kills had something left behind and every five years it changed with the new partnership. All of the kills were random and done with whatever was lying around at the time. In the last five years seventy-three people were found guilty of the murder, but in my opinion they would be innocent." Sweets said.

"The bottom line is there is too many similarities between that serial killer Sweets profiled and these murders here. Hacker is going to make sure you have all of the evidence collected from the cases to go over everything. Caroline will get you the remaining thirty bodies that she is working on and if you need the other ones we can deal with that after this set. I brought the case files to go through. We need to keep this all quiet. Nothing leaves this lab." Booth said.

"I'm going to need more help. We'll have to bring in more Interns to help with the additional remains." Bones said.

"I'll call in Mr. Vaziri and Mr. Fisher." Cam said.

"Who is it we're supposed to be going after? If he's been doing this for over fifty-seven years he has to be old right?" Angela asked.

"Sixty years now actually and he started at twenty, he'd be eighty." Sweets answered.

"Wouldn't he be too old to physically kill someone?" Wendell asked.

"He's not actually doing the killing. It's how he's been able to avoid being detected." Sweets said.

"But you said you did a profile on him for serial killing." Clark said.

"I did a profile on him for the FBI in another sense and the serial killing came out." Sweets said.

"What was the original reason for the profile?" Cam asked.

"I can't say it's classified." Sweets answered.

"The reason why doesn't matter. What does is if this man is dead, alive or still killing. We need to find out of the evidence that was collected was right or not and if these people have anything in common." Booth said.

The lights suddenly shut off leaving everything in a soft light from the small amount of sunlight coming through the high windows.

"What the hell." Wendell said confused.

The windows began to shatter and everyone bent down to the floor trying to take cover from the glass falling from the ceiling. Booth had his hand on his gun ready to draw it should something happen. Once the glass was finished falling they heard the gunshots from inside followed by a voice that was now in the room.

"Stand up!" A thick voice demanded.

They all looked at each other before they stood up. Booth had his gun in his hand and pointed it at the door, but it was pointless. The room was full of armed men with masks over their face. In front of them was an old man in a very expensive black suit with six armed men flanking on either side of him. Only Sweets knew who this man was in front of them.

"Ah Agent Sweets, oh I'm sorry its Dr. Sweets now isn't it? You're no longer an Agent with the FBI." The old man said with a thick Russian accent.

"Rasputin Romani. You made a very foolish mistake coming here, showing your face. Everyone believes you were dead. Now they will know you faked your death." Sweets said making sure he kept his voice calm.

"All but you believed anyways. Not that that ever concerned me. They never believed you. To them you were just an unstable Agent needing to be put away. They threw you away and placed you as a Psychologist, the furthest away from any field work." Rasputin said.

"What do you want Romani?" Booth ordered as he still kept his gun on Rasputin. He didn't even know what to think about what Rasputin had said about Sweets being an Agent. He would need to have a conversation about it later. Now was not the time.

"It was brought to my attention that Dr. Sweets was looking into Agent case files. I knew it was only a matter of time before he put it all together. That was made clear when my art was being dug up and brought here. I wanted to come by and give a friendly piece of advice and warning to let it go. Just put them back where they belong and move on in your life. If you do I'm sure a generous donation to the Jeffersonian will be made for you to do with as you wish."

"Not gonna happen." Booth said.

"Yes I figured as much, but it was important to say. Now Lance, there was something I wished to say to you."

"And what would that be?" Sweets asked like he didn't care.

"We've known each other for some time now. When you first came to me you were nineteen, defenseless really. You couldn't fight, clearly you have not learnt how yet. Someone obviously taught you a valuable lesson. Why the FBI wouldn't teach their Shadow Agents to fight I truly do not know. Does not seem wise to send children out into dangerous undercover operations and not teach them how to fight. Though, with you I suppose it made sense. You could hit any target you aimed for. The best shot I have ever seen in my life. Fighting would seem pointless if you had access to a gun."

"Your point?" Sweets asked not liking how much Rasputin was giving away.

"My point is with me you had family. I told you about my paintings. I took you in like a son. You've always wanted a family you know that. I can give you a family. Come with me and we can put the past behind us. We could be very good together. I would never throw you away like your own mother did, your father, the FBI. The child that no one wanted. You would be wanted with me Lance."

"Not interested." Sweets said with an edge to his voice.

"Lance that's not very smart of you. It's fear that is blocking you from accepting my offer. I can't say I blame you, you haven't have the easiest life after all. Born a month early, addicted to heroin. Your mother took off just minutes after giving birth to you. Your father was never in your life. He named you Lance in hopes it would make you strong. He didn't even give you his last name. Named you Sweets because his oldest son loved sweets. Six months old you were in the foster care system. Between six months old and twelve you were in a hundred and thirteen foster homes. Abused and neglected in ninety of them. Some worse than others as those scars on your back are indication of that. Lived on the streets for two years before you went into College at fourteen. You're the Psychologist, you would know what it would do to a young man's mind to be nothing more than just a name in a file. During those young teenage years where you develop who you are going to be you were busy being people who don't exist. You lived a hard life Lance it would only make sense that you have no idea who you are or how to live. Why continue to live a hard life when you no longer need to? You work for the FBI listening to people complain about their problems. Why? You have money, you have millions from your poker winnings. Why continue with this life? Come with me and I'll give you a family and a true purpose Lance."

"I work for the FBI to put people like you away behind bars where they belong. I will never go anywhere with you. Mark my words Rasputin you will be in jail. The biggest mistake you could have made was showing up here today. You should have ran while no one believed me. But now you're standing here in front of witnesses. People will listen now and you will be taken down. I'm going to take you down finally once and for all." Sweets said with strength in his voice.

"I know where you live Lance. I could kill you at any moment of my choosing. It would be wise for you to reconsider." Rasputin said threateningly.

"I'm going to enjoy slamming that cell door right in your face." Sweets said back not even flinching at the threat.

"This has been your only warning, all of you. Walk away. Come boys we have work to do." Rasputin said as he turned and walked away.

All of his men walked out backwards ready to fire should the need come. Only when they were finally alone did Booth lower his gun, but he didn't put it away just yet. Everyone turned to look at Sweets who was shaking slightly from the pain and exhaustion in his body.

"What the hell was that?" Hodgins asked clearly pissed off.

"It would appear that was our killer." Bones said.

"No I meant all that about Sweets. Obviously you know more than you were letting on." Hodgins said with anger.

"I told you it was classified." Sweets said.

"Screw classified he just showed up here with like a hundred armed guards. What the hell is a Shadow Agent?" Angela asked pissed off too.

"Them showing up isn't my fault." Sweets said defensively.

"I agree. It's not your fault. He clearly doesn't want us looking at these bodies and cases. He wished to scare us away so he can continue to be free and killing people. It has nothing to do with Dr. Sweets." Bones simply said.

"Really? Because that felt pretty personal to me." Wendell said.

"Look Sweets you got some things you need to explain here. Like what the hell is really going on. What the hell is a Shadow Agent?" Booth asked.

"Dr. Sweets you really should be sitting down. Your body is still healing and standing too long will only cause your internal bruising to darken and not heal." Clark said as he seemed to be the only one to notice how shaky Sweets was.

Booth noticed that Sweets' body was not doing well. He pulled over a metal stool and Sweets sat down on it. Booth put his gun away and turned to look at Sweets, clearly waiting for an answer to his question.

"Shadow Agents is a division within the FBI, it technically doesn't exist because if it did the Government couldn't justify the actions." Sweets started.

"What actions?" Cam asked.

"Using under aged kids as undercover Agents." Sweets answered.

"And you were one?" Bones asked.

"Ya I was. Under age by Government standard is twenty-one. The age where you can drink, gamble and go into the FBI academy. Shadow Agents weren't that old though most were sixteen or close to it. All of them were at risk youth. They were runaways, orphans, foster kids that no one cared about. They were going to be arrested for something, but they had something valuable to the division. I was fourteen when they found me. I was arrested by the FBI in a cartel illegal poker den." Sweets said.

"Hello." Hodgins said shocked.

"Why would you be in such a place?" Bones asked.

"Because I needed the money to afford my school. I was in College working on my first degree. I ran away at twelve and finished school through a mail-in correspondence courses. I couldn't go to a physical school without being caught so I did it that way. But because of that I couldn't register for most of the scholarships and I wasn't old enough for student loans. The scholarships only paid for my tuition I still had to come up with the rest of the money for books, room and board. I was really good at poker. I had started playing when I was twelve to get money for food and the occasional no ask motel room." Sweets answered.

"How did you end up working for them though?" Angela asked.

"They brought me down to this different location then the rest of the people arrested, I wasn't at the FBI building, not the official one. The Shadow Division is not located in the FBI building because it had to be kept as much need to know as possible. It's the top floor of a highly secured office building. They put me in this room no bigger than a closet. I was there for twenty-eight hours in the dark. When an Agent, Agent Fuller, finally did come and get me out he brought me into a small office and gave me some water. He asked me how it felt to be locked up in the room. I didn't answer him and he proceeded to tell me how during those twenty-eight hours he was building the case against me. He was planning on charging me as an adult due to the level of my intelligence. Said I was a cartel member and was looking at a whole bag full of charges including multiple counts of capital murder. I told him why I was really there and he told me that he knew that. That he had done his research on me."

"He gave you a choice." Booth stated already knowing where this was going.

"Ya. I either; join his division and work undercover or I was going to spend the rest of my life in a small dark place. I agreed. I didn't ask him any questions, because really what else was I going to do? He explained that I would be known as a Shadow Agent and I would go through training to receive a FBI badge to be authorized to arrest targets. I had to sign a contract that kept me with the division until I turned twenty-four or I was killed. I didn't know that at the time, because I didn't read the whole contract. He didn't give me the time and then the contract was taken away and I never saw it again. I found out a lot of things later on that was in the contract that should never have been allowed to be in it. But it was too late I had already signed it. I met other Shadow Agents I worked with four others in a unit. There was a total of three units, fifteen of us in total. I worked with Mark, a sixteen year old hacker on the FBI watched list. Jessica, a seventeen year old escort her job was to distract the target by any means necessary and I mean any means. Chris was a nineteen year old thief a very good thief and Jake was twenty and the muscle arrested multiple times for deadly assault. I was the brains. We all worked together ninety percent of the time to complete the mission. One of us would always be undercover it would just depend on the situation as to who it would be. When we weren't undercover we were expected to keep up appearances so no one would notice we were doing something else. I continued to go to school and play poker to support myself."

"How did you get put on Rasputin's case?" Booth asked gently.

"Everything went wrong." Sweets said sadly with pain clear in his voice.

"What happened?" Angela asked gently.

"There had been some talk from above that something was going on, was going down. We didn't know we were never told everything just what was in the file. Mark kept saying that they were going to invoke clause nineteen from the contract. We had no idea what he was talking about. He hacked into the system to find the contracts and it was in all of our contracts. A clause that we signed off on that would end out lives. Literally. We signed away and gave permission for them to kill us should the division be at risk of being discovered. We thought he was crazy, paranoid. They couldn't just kill fifteen people off. You couldn't cover that up. We were all at the building working on our assignments. It was just the fifteen of us and we were spread out among the loft on the top floor. All of a sudden the door was kicked open and eight masked, armed men came through and started shooting. We all scrambled for guns I was able to grab mine. I always had it on me since I was cleared to carry. I took five out before the other three left. Fifteen of us and I was the only one to survive. I tried to save them, stop the bleeding, but there were too many injured. The phone lines were all cut, cell phone signals has been jammed, they locked the door from the outside and it was sealed I couldn't fire my way out. I couldn't call for help, I couldn't go anywhere. All I could do was try and save their lives, but they all slowly bleed out one right after the other. By the time anyone came in they were all dead. I was covered in their blood. Agent Fuller took me out of there and brought me to a safe house. He told me that a new target had discovered what the division had been trying to do and had us killed. He was placing me undercover for that target to bring him down."

"And you believed him?" Hodgins asked skeptically.

"Not even for a second, but what choice did I have? If I called him out on it, they would go after me again and again until they succeeded. I couldn't exactly go on the run they'd have had my face all over the news I would have been the most wanted fugitive in the Country. My only choice was to play along until I turned twenty-four and could get out. If I didn't cause any trouble and did what I was ordered to do I stood a chance. Not much of one, but a better one than the other alternative."

"The target was Rasputin." Booth stated

"Ya it was. He wasn't a serial killer when I went undercover for him."

"What was he?" Bones asked.

"The controller of the American Russian mob division. He was wanted as a person of interest across all of the ABC Agencies. They had sent in numerous undercover agents and all of them had returned dead within months of them being there. All were made. To be the Agency that brought him down would have been rewarded very handsomely. With the Shadow Division bringing him down, they could have justified their use of under aged Agents. They could have grown into a full size division with millions in grant money. He was suspected in over eight hundred crimes, none of which was murder. That's what tipped me off."

"Big Russian mob guy, but doesn't have anyone killed. That's weird." Hodgins said.

"Exactly. They gave me the night to get cleaned up and ready to go. The next morning I went undercover as this nineteen year old homeless kid trying to stay in school. I knew that he would be in a certain area and I went to that area sat down on the ground with my homework and played the part. I caught his interest because I was clearly homeless, but doing school work. He stopped to talk to me and I told him I was an orphan and a runaway. He gave me fifty bucks before he left. I stayed in that area every day after my classes and he started to come around more. It took three months before he first brought me back to his place allowed me to get cleaned up and he fed me. It started with me running drugs for him and over time I gained more and more of his trust. It was two years into it when he decided I was worthy enough to see his artwork."

"That's what he called the victims." Cam said.

"Ya, but he meant it in a literal sense. He started when he was nineteen and the first time was completely innocent. He's a painter and one day his girlfriend was painting with him and she cut herself. There was a decent amount of blood and according to him it just looked so pretty. He used her blood and painted a picture. She lived and was apparently turned on by it. He was twenty when he first killed someone, by his own hand. He used his victim's blood and combined it with some type of chemical to make it thicker and more like paint. He became obsessed. Even believed that the victim's blood spoke to him and guided his hand to make the paintings. He learnt quick though. He destroyed the bodies with lye and crushed the bones up to complete ash before he would then use a funeral home dedicated to cremating the remains of soldiers that died overseas, but their bodies were too dangerous with disease to have buried. The worker would then put in some of Rasputin's victim's ashes into another urn. One body would be divided up into fifty urns and they would be shipped all over the Country. At twenty-five he had enough blackmail on a Federal Agent and a submissive partner with a low IQ and anger management issues to begin killing the way he is now. He doesn't care about the kill; to him it's about their blood and it's no longer enough for them to be willing donors. The people are nothing to him, just a container to what he desires. Who they were didn't matter. The victimology didn't matter because they all had the same thing inside of them, blood. The location is what mattered to him. He was killing one person a week and at first it was to take all of their blood and use it as paint. After ten years that began to change. It had to, because courts and crime scene techs were getting smarter. There's only so many times you can find a body with no blood in them before it becomes suspicious. He was forced to change his artwork. The location always mattered but for different reasons. In the beginning he would mark an alley wall with a different symbol every five years to mark a new partnership. It was simply just to mark the best place to make the kill without any eyes watching. He always made sure to put the mark on himself to ensure the area was safe. Afterwards he had to change his art. He would take a map of the city and mark places on the map that would give him his desired image. Once he had the image he wanted to paint he would mark those alley walls one a week and have his partner take only a few ounces of blood from the victim. He would use that to paint part of the image that he was looking to create. He would continue until the image was complete and then he would move on to a new map and a new image."

"He just shared that with you?" Clark asked.

"He was very in-depth with what he told me. He was getting old, no wife, no children. He wanted to pass it on to someone and I played into that. I knew he was looking for someone to take his place even before I knew about the killing. I played into that and acted very willing to learn everything he had to teach. He liked that I was in school for psychology he thought it would play well with him and I would be able to help manipulate people for him. He spent thirteen hours telling me everything and showing off different paintings he had done recently. He had files and files of blackmail on judges, Agents, Coroners, Doctors, Congressmen, you name it he had it. He had paintings from the blood of his past partners and Federal Agents. He told me it all and with it I had everything I needed to bring him in."

"Why didn't you?" Booth asked.

"Agent Fuller wouldn't let me. Said you couldn't charge someone with murder when they didn't actually do the murdering. He wanted me to focus on the trafficking charges. Rasputin was also trafficking drugs, weapons and women. He wanted that bust and not some serial killer. He thought it wouldn't look as good on the Division. He told me I had to stay in and I did for another year. For a year he bragged about the people that were killed. Every week that I had failed to find the evidence to bring him in was another week some innocent person was killed. After three years being undercover for him he started to get paranoid and twitchy. I knew something was going on, but he wouldn't talk about it. He then faked his death and with his supposed death the operation was over. No one cared about a dead Russian mobster. I told Agent Fuller that he wasn't dead though, but he didn't believe me, no one did. They believed that my time with Rasputin was too damaging to my mental state and I was mentally unstable. They released me from my contract and sent me to work as a Psychologist within the FBI. Literally the next day I was sitting in my office and Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan came walking in."

"Wow, that's just… that's just wow." Angela said shocked by what she had heard.

"Man all this time I thought you were just this annoying Shrink kid." Hodgins said shocked as well.

"It's good though, because now we know who is behind all of this. We just have to find a way to prove it." Clark said.

"How do we prove it though?" Cam said.

"Well I can check the cameras here and see if any of that was caught on tape and was recorded. He did basically admit to it." Angela said.

"He didn't though. He just called them his art. It could have been about anything and if he does still have blackmail on judges he would be able to get himself out of it. He must have someone within the District Attorney's office to know about the remains being exhumed." Bones said.

"Let me worry about proving it. You guys need to worry about proving those seventy-three people in jail are innocent. You need to go over every set of remains within the last five years. We just need one body to prove that Rasputin had them killed and then Caroline will make sure he spends the rest of his life in prison. I'm more concerned right now about your safety Sweets. This guy knows where you live." Booth said as he looked at Sweets.

"I'll be fine. He doesn't want to kill me. If he did he would have by now."

"What makes you so confident?" Cam asked.

"He knew I was an Agent. I suspected that he did near the beginning. He never said anything about it, but he always knew the others were undercover Agents because he always had a way to look them up. He would have known I was an Agent before he brought me into his house that first time. It was a risk I took. It's why I kept my name when I went under and kept to who I was, an orphan runaway struggling to support himself in school. It played to his victimology of his partner."

"Someone easily manipulated and all alone so no outside influence." Booth said.

"Correct. I had a higher IQ than his other partners, but he saw my degree in psychology as an added bonus and personal challenge. If he could manipulate someone like me into believing what he was doing there was no telling what he could do or get me to do. He doesn't want to kill me he still believes he can manipulate me into being what he wishes. I'm still a challenge to him."

"All the more reason for you to not be around." Booth said.

"I'm not going anywhere. No one knows him better than me. No one knows this case better than me. I'm doing this with or without your permission." Sweets said back and even though his voice was raspy and sore Booth could still hear the determination in it, they all could.

"Fine, but you stick with me I don't want you out there on your own and you need a new safe place to be until this is wrapped up."

"I got a safe place I can go to. I've learnt how to hide and cover my tracks."

"Where is this Agent Fuller?" Booth asked clearly not happy with calling him an Agent.

"It's not that simple to go and talk to him Agent Booth."

"And why the hell not Sweets?" Booth asked with an edge to his voice that Sweets didn't take personally. He knew that Booth would not be happy about children being manipulated and forced into working undercover.

"Because the division still exists and is still active. Agent Fuller is the Director of the division." Sweets explained.

"How is that possible? All of the Agents were killed by them you said. How could they still have a division?" Cam asked outraged that fourteen teenagers were murdered and it seemed like it didn't matter to the FBI.

"Their deaths were never reported or filed anywhere. The bodies were buried where all of the other bodies were buried from previous Agents that didn't make it out. They've been around for fifteen years completely under the radar. Within a month of my last operation they had replaced all fifteen of us with more under aged kids, one was twelve and being used to lure pedophiles and human traffickers. These aren't your typical Senior Agents here. They are the ones that were too good at their job, the ones that could justify anything as long as the end result was a win and I'm talking anything." Sweets said.

"They should have been fired not given a division to run." Booth said disgusted that this was going on.

"I agree, but the previous FBI Director didn't see it that way. Director Vance only cared about the numbers. He wanted the FBI in the press as the top agency in the world. The more press the better for him and the bigger his paycheque was. The runners of the division, ten Agents plus Fuller, were Agents that had an amazing record, but kept getting complaints about how they did it. For example letting a child being molested by her father so they could go through the house to look for evidence without a warrant. When the suspect would protest to the search they could turn around and show the picture of him molesting his daughter. No normal human being would stand there and allow it to happen, but they did. Director Vance was getting crap from the Council and he decided that he could kill two birds with one stone. He created the Shadow Division. He sent those eleven Agents to run that division any way they see fit as long as they brought in major arrests, which they did. But they did it through under aged kids. They put all the risk on us while they sat back and collected the money. And a lot of it. When a bust happened they would take drugs or cash as evidence they said, but they just pocketed the money. They got rich on our lives while they paid us fifteen hundred a month to risk our lives. They had no problems locking one of us away if we questioned their decisions. They had no problem beating the hell out of us and call it training. They were horrible human beings and I always suspected that something more was going on with Agent Fuller."

"Why?" Booth asked.

"Just a feeling he was too invested in the division and not in a good dedicated way. He was very interested in the major targets, cartels, traffickers, Rasputin. I always figured he was dirty especially when one of us would turn up dead out of nowhere. Even Director Vance, when he retired he demanded a place on the FBI Council and he has kept an eye on the division to ensure that it is never found. Obviously if it was and he was allowing it to happen he could be looking at charges. We always believed that he was involved we called them the Dirty Twelve. The most dirtiest Agents in the whole Bureau that no one could stop. They are still up and running to this day, the same twelve. If you go in there to Agent Fuller and tell him that Rasputin showed up here in the lab, and I guarantee you he won't be on a camera anywhere, Fuller will do everything within his power to destroy your career. He has to, because before it was just me saying it. And he was all too prepared to say I was mentally unstable and ship me off to some nut house to get pills forced into me for the rest of my life. If I say it and blow the lid off this whole division I'm just some crazy kid. But if you say it that's a whole different thing. You're a well-respected FBI Agent, a war veteran, a decorated officer. People will listen to you no matter how crazy and out there it seems. You'll have people backing you up whether they believe it or not because they believe in you. He can't risk that happening. He'll do everything in his power to destroy your career Agent Booth." Sweets said.

"I don't care. Agents like this don't get to be in the Bureau. They don't get to have a badge. I don't care what it takes I'm bringing this division down and freeing those poor kids. I'm putting an end to this." Booth said with anger at the situation.

"We all will. I need those bodies of the seventy-three people that are currently in prison as well as any evidence to their cases." Bones said.

"I'll get Caroline on it. She'll have to avoid going through the courts unless she knows of a judge that wouldn't be on anyone's payroll. If not we'll have to make the calls to their next of kin to see if we can get approval to exhume their bodies. I need to update Hacker on this situation and I need access to all of these eleven Agent's files. I want to know everything about them and about Vance. What do you think about Stark?" Booth asked Sweets.

"Completely in the dark. Director Stark was appointed Director by the Council due to votes. He received more votes than Agent Maggle, who was handpicked by Vance to take his place. Vance was a mentor to him and they worked very closely together. A few of the retired agents on the Council were concerned about how much influence Vance had on Maggle and passed him over for Stark. Stark hated Vance and his old school beliefs, they often butted heads in some public places. Stark had eighty percent of the votes on the Council and ever since he has been working on pushing the age of a Federal Agent up to twenty-five before they could enter the academy. Stark is a firm believers that anyone younger is still growing up and should be allowed to grow before taking on the stress and darkness that this job can bring. He's very active in the community where children are concerned and he even sponsors a runaway housing project where runaways can spend the night in a group home setting without the stress of a group home. Stark was an abused runaway before he was adopted by this couple who found him starving on the street. They took him in no questions asked and gave him a great life. Based on his profile and history I can guarantee you that if he knew something like this division was going on within his FBI he would have put a stop to it. If you can get him to listen to you he'll help." Sweets answered.

"Getting him to listen will be easy. You're living proof that this happened." Booth said confidently.

"My word might not be enough for the Council. If Fuller is able to convince them that I'm unstable my word will mean nothing."

"That won't happen. We have more than enough circumstantial proof. Someone will listen." Booth said back.

"What about the other bodies? The ones of the other kid Agents? Couldn't we dig them up and prove they were all killed by the same weapon or something?" Wendell asked.

"If we could get into the building where it happened we might be able to find evidence that was covered up." Hodgins said all for helping to shut down this division.

"The building might be a little hard they still use it as their main base. You're not going to be able to just walk in there. The remains are all kept together over the years I don't know how many bodies will be buried there. I know the location though, seventy-eight degrees west by ninety-four degrees north. It was apparently some old quarry that was tainted with acid in the soil and rocks. It was shut down thirty years ago." Sweets said.

"I will go to that location and search for the remains. Dr. Hodgins you will come with me to help recover the bodies and any samples that you may need. Cam, I would appreciate it if you called Mr. Vaziri and Mr. Fisher to come in and work on these bodies until I have located the other set of remains." Bones said.

"I'm not sure how I feel about you going out there alone Bones." Booth said.

"It'll be fine, I'll bring my gun. But really no one will be there. You have other more important matters to attend to than searching for remains in rocks." Bones said.

"Fine, but you bring a gun too." Booth said as he pointed to Hodgins.

"Fair enough." Hodgins easily agreed.

"I'll go through some of the files and see if I can find any next of kin to start getting some people to agree to their loved ones being exhumed." Angela said.

"I'll call Caroline shortly to let her know of the situation. Sweets, you and me are going to have a meeting with Hacker and Stark. The sooner they are aware of the situation the better prepared we can be." Booth said.

"And if they don't believe me." Sweets said clearly not sure of the situation.

"They'll believe you. This story is too insane not to believe. It'll be fine I promise."

"Fine, but I need to stop at the apartment first."

"That's fine." Booth easily agreed.

"Let's go people the clock is ticking on this one." Cam said.

Everyone got moving and Sweets and Booth headed back to Booth's SUV. Once inside the car Sweets put his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. His body was sore and he was feeling like crap with the pneumonia and concussion. This was not the relaxing time off he was supposed to be having. Booth started the car as he spoke.

"How's the pain?"

"It's fine. It's the pneumonia that is kicking my ass."

"Bones said you would be feeling like crap and really tired for a while. You should be resting. After the meeting I'll take you to that safe place of yours and you can relax and sleep."

"I'll be fine. There's a lot of work that needs to be done."

"And it will be, but you aren't any good to us Sweets if you're too tired to think. You need some rest before you keep going. That's an order, Agent or not I know I still out rank you."

"Yes you do." Sweets said with a small smirk.

"It all makes sense now." Booth said gently.

"What does?"

"You're apartment, why you don't call it home, why it's empty of anything. I'm no Shrink, but I've seen enough in soldiers to see PTSD. You just moved into that place after your last operation didn't you?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I have PTSD." Sweets said slightly defensively.

"You know the signs Sweets. You know you're not okay, that you're not living. You got survivor's guilt the kind that makes you stand still even though you are living every day you're just standing still."

"I know, but I don't know how to stop. He's right I don't know who I am. Lance Sweets is just another name to me in a file. All I've been is whoever I had to be to survive. The foster parents didn't even call me by my name. I don't know who I am and I don't know how to live. All I've done is survive to the end of the day and then get up and do it all over again. It's all I know how to do. The apartment is just an apartment, rundown and empty just what I've always been used to. It's not a home, I don't know how to make it a home. It doesn't feel like it. It just feels like one more temporary place to be. I don't know how to adjust to anything but surviving. I know what I'm supposed to do I've told soldiers how to do it in the past, how to move on and readjust to life being back home. Yet I can't do it myself. I don't know." Sweets said sounding exhausted and lost.

"You don't do it alone that's how you do it Sweets. You don't take on life alone. There's two very important things I'm going to teach you. The first is how to fight. You need to learn how to defend yourself no matter what size you are. I've taught a hundred pound girls to defend themselves against three hundred pounds of muscle. I can teach you how to fight and I will be. You gotta be able to defend yourself."

"What's the second thing?"

"The second, I'm gonna teach you how to live. I'm gonna teach you how to come home for the first time in your life. No one should suffer alone and you don't have to anymore. You got people who care about you Sweets. Just look back at the last week. We care about you. We're all standing behind you on this. You're not alone in this world anymore Sweets. You need to learn how to live in it and I'm going to show you how. You survived Sweets and that can be just as painful as being one of the ones who didn't. But you survived and they wouldn't want you living your life this way. They would want you to be happy. You got out. You survived and you need to start living. So I'm gonna show you how. You'll figure out who you are and who you aren't once you start living Sweets just like the rest of us."

"And if I fail?" Sweets asked softly.

"The only way you can fail in life is by giving up. You don't strike me as a person to give up."

"No I'm not."

"Take it one day at a time, one step at a time."

"Ok"

"Good. So you really don't know who your father is?"

"Never met him. I know his name, I found out later. He had two other older sons, but I never met them."

"Why not?"

"They don't know I exist. I don't think it would go over well."

"Why wouldn't it?"

"Just wouldn't. It doesn't matter they have their lives and I know they are both healthy and happy. That's all that matters anyways."

"Except maybe they would like to know you exist Sweets. Maybe they would want you in their lives. They could have wives or children that are missing out on you in their lives." Booth said.

"It's not exactly an easy conversation to have with someone. How would you feel if someone came up to you and said 'hey I'm your younger half-brother?'"

"I'd want to verify it first, but I wouldn't turn him away. Half-brother or not he's family. It's just that simple to me or to Jarod. You should think about it Sweets they deserve to at least know you exist."

"Ya I'll think about it."

Booth didn't say anything else on the way to Sweets' apartment. He could tell that Sweets was in a great deal of pain and needed some quiet time. Sweets closed his eyes and just tried to focus on getting his mind back in the game. He didn't expect for all of this to be happening and he didn't know how he felt about the others now knowing so much about him. He was supposed to be the one all put together, the one that gives out advice to people who have life problems. Sweets couldn't help but feel like a fraud. He knew what he was supposed to do, but he couldn't bring himself to do it yet. He had struggled for the past two years to do what he was supposed to do. Yet he would tell people to do exactly what he wasn't doing himself. Sweets didn't know what to do. He didn't know how he felt about any of this and he knew it would take time before he was able to figure it out. He just needed some sleep and then he could get his mind to focus on what he needed to figure out. When they finally pulled up to Sweets' apartment Booth parked and they got out. They headed inside and once inside Sweets' apartment he went into his bedroom to grab his clothes. He knew he couldn't come back here until it was safe once again. Sweets started to pack his duffle bag with what little he did have.

"There's a metal case under the bed, can you grab it for me?" Sweets asked as he finished putting the few things he had into the duffle bag.

Booth moved so he could grab the metal box, he was surprised at how wide it was and how heavy it was.

"Wow this thing is heavy." Booth said as he put the case down on Sweets' bed.

"I know that's why I asked you to move it and not me."

"What the hell is in this thing?" Booth asked.

Sweets didn't answer he just went over and flipped the locks and opened the lid. Booth let out a whistle at what he saw inside. There were grenades, handguns, shotguns, revolvers, a small wooden box, handcuffs and even a badge. Sweets grabbed his FBI badge and attached it to his right hip before he took the handcuffs and put them on the back of his pants. Booth picked up the wooden box and opened it as he spoke.

"Are you still an active Agent?"

"Sort of. I was never inactive, but never officially active either technically. I do have permits to carry a weapon both concealed and not." Sweets answered as he put a nine millimeter gun into the back of his jeans as he didn't have a hip holster.

"Whoa these are metals. A purple heart, red cross, badge of courage, metal of bravery. Sweets where did you get these?"

"From my time overseas." Sweets answered as he cleared the other stuff out of the way to lift out a gun case.

"Wait you were overseas? You were a soldier? When?"

"Never. I was never a soldier."

"Then how did you end up overseas?" Booth asked very interested.

"I have a very good shot, top in the Country. I was sixteen the first time I went over there. Agent Fuller had requests for dangerous operations that required certain abilities. I was sent over to locate a missing American soldier. They needed my profiling skills to locate where the soldier was. When the captured soldier was located the soldiers got fired upon and were trying to hold their own. I ran into the cave and got the captured soldier out. I received a metal of bravery for it. I did that for three years did twenty-three missions. They were no longer than five days over there. Most I was in and out especially once I was making a name for myself at the shooting ranges at being very gifted with a rifle. The last time I went over I received the purple heart and this baby from the Army General himself." Sweets said as he opened the gun case.

Inside the case was a beautiful, slick sniper riffle. Booth was shocked to be looking at it as he had never been able to see one of these things up close before. His sniper riffle was impressive, but it was nothing compared to this.

"That's a McMillan Tac 50."

"Yes it is. It's a very nice gun."

"How did you get this? I can't even get my hands on one." Booth said amazed.

"The riffle I was using was old and pretty crappy, but I was still able to make perfect shots with it. My last mission overseas was when I was nineteen before everything else happened. It was actually when I first met you." Sweets said starting to get lost in memory.

"What? I've never seen you overseas." Booth said confused.

"You didn't see me, I saw you and I didn't even know it was you until later. Do you remember back in that little village of Kadish your unit was surprised with a suicide bomber?"

"Ya it was my last time over there. It was just a quick mission to grab some dangerous intel. I was grabbed from behind and he had a bomb vest and a dead man switch. He brought me into one of the homes. I was the sniper in the group though and the only place for one to take up a position was two thousand yards away for the right angle. My men couldn't do it. We were waiting for reinforcements and a bomb unit to try and defuse the situation. He was waiting for some big important meeting and we just came into a bad position. It was all bad timing." Booth recalled.

"I was on my way out. I just finished a rescue mission and I was heading back to the States. I got asked to go and be the sniper to get a unit free from a suicide bomber. I agreed and I went to take up my position once I arrived at the small village."

"You're the one that pulled the trigger; that made that shot. We never knew who it was." Booth said.

"Most didn't know my name and those that did knew me by a false one. That was my last mission over there. The Army General awarded me with the purple heart and with this. He said that if I could make that shot with the shitty riffle that I had then the number of lives I could save with one like this was endless."

"You really have lived one hell of a life Sweets. You've been through a lot in the twenty-four years you've been alive. When did you find out it was me?"

"When I got my medal the General mentioned that I had saved his best sniper, his best leader, Seeley Booth. I didn't know you were in the FBI not until I got your file that morning."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"You wouldn't have believed me for starters and secondly, it wasn't about me it was about your partnership with Dr. Brennan. It doesn't matter it's all in the past."

"One night we are going to have some beers and pizza and trade stories."

"I'd like that. And one day I'll let you shoot it." Sweets said as he closed the case and locked everything back away.

"Oh I need to shoot this gun. Do you have a holster for your gun?"

"I have a thigh holster, but not a hip."

"I have an extra one in the glovebox you can use. It'll make people feel less edgy over it." Booth said.

"Thanks. I'm all set." Sweets said as he grabbed his duffle bag.

"You want the case don't you?"

"Kinda." Sweets said with an apologetic look.

Booth grabbed the metal case and they headed out of the apartment and back down to Booth's SUV. They put the metal case and Sweets' duffle bag in the back before they got in. Sweets put on the hip holster and put his gun into it as Booth headed back to the office. Booth pulled out his phone and asked Hacker to meet them at Stark's office in twenty minutes. Booth wanted to do this conversation once to save them all time. If they could get Hacker and Stark to see what was going on than they would have a lot more freedom to move around and get what they needed to not only stop Rasputin, but the Shadow Division. Having the right people on their side would make the world of a difference. Once they arrived at the FBI they both got out and headed inside to the elevator. Sweets was looking more and more exhausted as the time went on and Booth was hoping they could make this a quick meeting. Sweets desperately needed some time to lay down and sleep to help his body heal and regenerate. They headed up the elevator to the top floor where Stark's office was located. Once there they headed down to Stark's office. Hacker was already standing there looking anxious to know what was going on.

"Dr. Sweets, how are you feeling?" Hacker asked.

"I'm alright." Sweets said with a raspy voice.

"Booth, what is going on?" Hacker asked.

"A long story and it would be better to tell it once."

"Please tell me you called and told him we were coming." Hacker said.

"Nope didn't do that." Booth said as he went over and knocked on the door. After a moment Stark spoke.

"Come in."

Booth opened the door and Stark looked up to see who it was.

"Agent Booth, I don't have time to talk. You'll have to come back later."

"Sir this is something you need to make time to hear now. You have a serious problem." Booth said in a serious voice.

Stark could see that Booth wasn't about to let this go. He let out a sigh and waved him in. Booth walked in with Hacker and Sweets behind him. Sweets closed the door behind him.

"What is going on?" Stark asked now more concerned with Hacker and Sweets being here for this conversation. He had heard about what happened to Sweets after the arrests were made. He was applaud that someone had attacked Sweets, especially an Agent. Stark was hoping this was connected to that and not something else.

"We have a serious problem Sir." Hacker said.

"Dr. Sweets please for the love of God sit down before you fall over." Stark ordered.

Sweets went and sat down in one of the two chairs in the room across from the desk.

"You're carrying a gun?" Hacker asked.

"Was that a badge I just saw?" Stark asked.

"Yes Sir." Sweets answered.

"Alright I want answers and I want them right now." Stark demanded.

"A situation was brought to my attention yesterday afternoon by Sweets regarding Agent Anderson's case files. He thought he saw a pattern and he wanted my opinion on it. I was able to see the same pattern and agreed with him that Agent Anderson missed something vital. I called Assistant Director Hacker into Sweets' office to speak about it privately where we didn't have to worry about being overheard." Booth started.

"What was the pattern?" Stark asked.

"A serial killer that Agent Anderson had missed." Hacker answered.

The shocked look on Stark's face was a clear indication that he did not expect that to come out of anyone's mouth. He turned to look at Sweets before he spoke in a demanding voice. "Talk, now."

"Yes Sir. I noticed with fifty files that at the crime scene there was a painted red devil's face on the alley wall where the body was discovered. At first I didn't think too much of it, but after the third case file I saw the pattern. Agent Anderson hadn't, not even after fifty cases. Out of those fifty cases seventeen were convicted and are currently in jail, the rest turned into cold cases. Which was the initial reason for my going through every Agent's case files, to see who had a high cold case rate. The devil face is not connected to any gang within the city or surrounding cities. They were all across the city and not in one designated area. Agent Anderson was the lead on all of the cases and some he wasn't even on duty. He claimed he was in the area and offered to take the case away from the busy local PD. All of the victims were random, nothing connecting them other than the wrong place at the wrong time. All were killed with a weapon of opportunity and the weapon was left behind. The cases were all closed within forty-eight hours of being open and without any evidence results back from the lab. Fifty people went into court and as I said seventeen of them were found guilty by bad luck of the draw for jury members." Sweets said.

"I'm missing how it could be a serial killer. We're talking fifty cases here, all of them were random and nothing connecting them other than some painted devil's face. Weird sure, but I'm not hearing anything that would have me believing that an Agent of mine missed something as vital as a serial killer." Stark said.

"It is Sir." Sweets started, but he began to cough. He had been talking too much today and he was paying the price for it now. Hacker went over to the counter and grabbed a water bottle before opening it and handing it to Sweets. Sweets gave a nod of thanks as Booth spoke.

"Sweets came to me with all of this looking to see if I was seeing what he was and I do. Anderson didn't miss anything, he's working for the serial killer, he's being blackmailed by him."

"You better have substantial proof to show me for that Booth. The only reason I am sitting here even listening to this is because it's you here. Otherwise you would have been kicked out by now. You better start telling me something to get me to your point and do it fast." Stark warned.

"These cases reminded Sweets of another serial killer that went under the radar. He would leave a symbol at every murder as well and he worked with a submissive partner and blackmailed an FBI Agent to cover up the crimes. They were random just like this and happened once a week for fifty-seven years, sixty now." Booth said.

"You're not helping yourself here Agent Booth." Stark said now very annoyed.

"He showed up today at the Jeffersonian." Sweets said with a very sore and hoarse voice.

"What?" Both Hacker and Stark said at the same time.

"No more talking Sweets you're vocal cords can't handle it anymore today. You'll be lucky if you even have a voice tomorrow." Booth said gently to Sweets before he turned his attention to Hacker and Stark. "Rasputin Romani that is our mastermind. I explained this to Hacker yesterday. As I said Sweets saw the pattern from a previous serial killer who was never caught. He was believed to be dead two years ago, but Sweets never believed it. He was well off and had been able to blackmail multiple Federal Agents, judges, Coroners, faking his own death from a heart attack was easy for him. No one believed Sweets, but I did and so did Hacker."

"I gave Agent Booth permission to have the fifty bodies exhumed and examined at the Jeffersonian." Hacker said.

"Caroline was able to get twenty of the fifty bodies exhumed so far and they were brought to the Jeffersonian. Bones and her team were going over them this morning. Sweets looked through the rest of the five years' worth of Anderson's cases and found an additional two hundred and ten cases that matched the devil face M.O. A total of seventy-three people are in prison on Capital Murder charges. All two hundred and sixty cases were missed by Anderson of having the same devil face. Not only that, it comes to one murder a week for the past five years. The same timeline as before from Romani. At first I thought it must be a child or someone close to him, he is eighty so it would be hard to believe that he could still orchestrate a murder such as this. However, this morning at the Jeffersonian, not twenty minutes after myself and Sweets arrived the lights were shut off, the windows were all smashed in and armed guards stormed into the place. No one was harmed, but Romani was there with the guards. He found out that we had exhumed twenty bodies, he called them his art. That is when it got complicated." Booth said.

"More complicated than a man who was believed to be dead storming into the Jeffersonian with armed guards?" Stark asked clearly now paying very close attention.

"I know Romani." Sweets said.

"You know him? How?" Hacker asked.

"A long and complicated story, short version at nineteen Sweets was undercover for the FBI on an operation to focus on Romani. He was undercover for three years when he discovered that Romani was a serial killer mastermind." Booth said.

"Undercover? You couldn't have been when you were nineteen it's against regulations." Hacker said.

"Dr. Sweets, I know you are in a great deal of pain from your attack just barely a week ago, but I need to hear how you became connected to Romani through an undercover operation. I need to hear how you could even be on an undercover operation at just nineteen. Take as long as you need, but I need to hear it from you." Stark said calmly to Sweets.

"It's called Shadow Division. It's a division within the FBI that takes under aged, at-risk teenagers, some as young as twelve, and place them as Federal Agents undercover for dangerous organizations. Cartels, gangs, traffickers, the Russian Mob. I was in the foster care since when I was six months old until I was twelve when I ran away. I lived on the streets making money through playing poker. At fourteen I went into College and supported myself through poker playing in illegal poker dens. When I was fourteen I was arrested by the FBI while in a Cartel poker den. I wasn't brought here though, but to some other building. They left me in a room the size of a closet, handcuffed, in the dark for twenty-eight hours." Sweets started but had to stop as he began to cough.

"Who was the Agent?" Stark asked as he looked at Booth already figuring that he knew.

"Agent Fuller." Booth answered while Sweets took a drink of water.

"Fuller? He's still an active Agent." Stark said with anger in his voice.

"He's not the only one and it gets worse." Booth said with his own anger at the situation.

"I've never even heard of this division." Hacker said.

"I don't know anything about it and I'm the Director." Stark said with his anger rising.

"Agent Fuller told me he was going to charge me with being a cartel member. That I would be charged as an adult for multiple crimes including Capital Murder. Or I could agree to work for him, for the division as a Shadow Agent. He only gave me a few minutes to decide, but I didn't have a choice. I was fourteen and to me I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison all because I was trying to make money to stay in school and survive. He handed me a contract, but he wouldn't let me read it. He told me I would be working undercover to help stop dangerous criminals. That I would be working in a team until I was twenty-four and then I could leave if I wished. He wanted me for my IQ. I signed the contract with no choice. He brought me up to the loft to meet the rest of the division. There were fifteen of us in total, all between the ages of fourteen and twenty, three units, five per unit. One kid was a hacker, another a thief, a muscle man and a girl to distract the targets. And yes I do mean have sex with, she was seventeen. All of us were there because we got caught trying to survive. We were all run away or orphans living on the streets. All of us had something that was valuable to the division. For five years we worked together, lived together and survived operations together. Then it all went wrong." Sweets said with pain all throughout his voice.

"It was already wrong the second Agent Fuller brought you to that place. What happened Dr. Sweets?" Stark asked gently like he would to a traumatised child he was interviewing.

"There were eleven Agents within the division, well besides us fifteen. Eleven official Agents. At first we thought they were there to protect us, but you quickly learn that we were nothing to them. They would lock us away in the closet for days if we questioned them. They would beat us if we did anything they didn't like. We were nothing to them. They stole money and drugs from busts that we risked our lives for. We were nothing more to them than a toaster. Something easily replaceable, easily thrown out like garbage. We all knew it, but we never thought, I never thought, they would ever do what they did." Sweets said sounding like he was in shock still from it.

"It's okay Sweets." Booth said gently.

"They were my friends. The fifteen of us we relied on each other. It didn't matter that we were in different five man units, we all still lived together, made dinner together. Some were dating each other. I trusted them all with my life and they did with me. They saved my life on numerous occasions and I saved them. I was the one with the best shot. I was the one that was lookout when they were in a dangerous place. It was my job to keep them safe, my responsibility to keep them safe and I failed them." Sweets said.

"No you didn't Sweets. You didn't fail them. The FBI failed them. Society failed them, the Government failed them, this Country failed them. Not you. They were victims and so were you. It shouldn't have happened to any of you. You did nothing wrong, but try and save them." Booth said with strength in his voice.

Sweets rub his hands over his face to try and shake off the pain and exhaustion. Booth placed a comforting hand on Sweets' back and was pleased that Sweets didn't flinch. After a minute Sweets lifted his head and continued to speak.

"There was this clause in the contract. We didn't think it would ever happen. The clause that states they could kill us if we were no longer useful or a risk to the division. Fuller had been acting weird, all the Agents had been, but especially Fuller. One night we were all alone in the loft. The door was bulletproof on the inside so we couldn't shoot our way out when we were locked in. It always locked from the outside so at night when we were in there, we were stuck in there until an Agent came and opened the door for us. We got stormed by eight armed men in black masks. They started shooting at all of us. I had a gun on me and I fired back, killed five, but three got away. The door closed and we were locked in. They cut the phone lines and jammed the cell phone signals. I was the only one that wasn't hurt. I did what I could for the others, but they all died by morning, they were all dead. Clause nineteen. I guess the men that stormed in didn't know that I was a good shot otherwise they would have brought more men. Agent Fuller found us in the morning. He took me out of there and told me that it was Rasputin Romani who did it. I didn't believe him, but what choice did I have? He placed me undercover that following morning and for three years I was undercover for the ruler of the American division of the Russian Mob." Sweets said with his voice just barely above a whisper now from all of the talking.

"Jesus." Hacker said softly clearly in shock.

"Do you know the rest Agent Booth?" Stark asked trying to keep his emotions in check.

"Yes Sir."

"Finish it. Before I get any more pissed off."

"Romani was suspected in hundreds of crimes, murder was never one of them. They didn't know that he was a mastermind in serial killings. Sweets went undercover and it took two years before he found out what Romani was doing. He had been killing since he was twenty in the name of art. He would kill for the victim's blood and use it to paint his paintings with. One a week after the first five years. He started to learn that he didn't need to do the killing himself. He got a submissive partner and used his blackmail material to blackmail a Federal Agent to cover up the crimes. He would mark the alley wall with the same symbol as a way to show the partner it was a low catch rate place. The blood would be drained from the victim that was random and randomly killed and brought back to Romani to paint with. Every five years the symbol would change with the new partner and new agent. The new partner and agent would have to kill the previous ones. After a while the marking was no longer about the best place for the killing but where in the city it was. He was using a DC map to create an image and then he would have his partner kill a victim in that location and bring back a few ounces of blood. Those locations would be part of the image he wanted to paint. One victim every week. When Sweets was told this by Romani he went and told Agent Fuller, but he wouldn't let Sweets out. Said it wasn't enough and he wanted proof of the other crimes. Something to really show off the division and be granted an official status. For the next year Sweets tried to get anything that would work, but he couldn't find it. Romani faked his death two years ago. Sweets never believed it, but Fuller wasn't hearing anything of it. He released Sweets from his contract early and sent him our way. The very next day he received me and Bones as his first patients. Romani's been killing for sixty years now. He never stopped." Booth finished.

"How many kills?" Stark asked.

"Three thousand ballpark. There's no telling right now how many innocent people are still in prison from it all." Booth said.

"We might never know." Hacker said.

"Yes we will. We will know. I want to know how many of these cases came across this headquarters that were missed. Some of them will be cold cases. That's thousands of families waiting to know what happened to their loved ones and I will not leave them waiting for much longer. This is not going to be a mistake that happens on my watch. It's despicable and goes against everything, everything, this agency stands for. I will not tolerate it." Stark said with pure rage in his voice.

"It's still going on." Sweets forced out.

"What?" Stark said with a deadly calmness to his voice.

"Those eleven Agents are still active and still working in the division. They have another fifteen teenagers, one was as young as twelve working to catch pedophiles. They are still located in the same building. It didn't stop five years ago Sir." Booth answered.

"So we go in there and arrest them." Hacker said with anger.

"We can't. If we do they could have the kids killed. They've done it before and I mean before what happened with me. They've been around for fifteen years they have their own grave pit. If you arrest them without enough evidence to keep them in jail and from making phone calls the kids will be killed. You need a plan before you go in there. And I can almost guarantee you that the kids won't talk. You're Federal Agents just like the ones that have been hurting them and making them experience the things they have. They won't talk out of fear." Sweets said softly.

"I can't simply leave these kids there. What are we doing to stop them?" Stark asked Booth.

"Sweets knew the location of their grave site. Bones is going with Hodgins to start looking while four interns will stay behind at the Jeffersonian to work on the exhumed bodies. Bones wants all seventy-three bodies that had convictions on them. She wants to try and prove their innocence and prove that Romani had something to do with it. Angela was going to check the security cameras to see if Romani was caught on them or if he knocked them out. Hodgins believes there may be evidence of the shooting in the loft, but as Sweets said they are still located there so we can't search it without tipping them off. There is also the trouble of retired Director Vance." Booth answered.

"What about him?" Stark asked.

"He started the division fifteen years ago. He took those eleven Agents knowing they all had questionable actions and morals and placed them in charge of the division. These Agents were criminals with a badge. They would allow a father to molest his daughter while they were searching the house without a warrant. They would take a photo of it happening so he couldn't fight the search without a warrant. All so they could make an arrest. Vance allowed this to happen and allowed the division to be created and ran the way that it has been. He's still on the Council." Booth explained.

"Great, that's just great. I will deal with Vance and these Agents. I can do so quietly without anyone noticing. I will keep you informed of what I discover. I want those seventy-three bodies exhumed and I want that happening now. I don't care how you make it happen, but ensure that you do. Hacker will help you with whatever you need. This needs to be kept quiet. The Jeffersonian will have to run any lab work as I can't trust anyone within the lab to do it properly. There is no telling who is on who's payroll right now. Take all of the evidence that you need and bring it to them. You have my permission to do whatever it is that you need to do to arrest Romani and stop this division. Do I make myself clear Agent Booth?" Stark demanded.

"Loud and clear Sir. I'll make it happen."

"Dr. Sweets I see the gun and the badge what should I take away from that?" Stark asked.

"I have a permit to carry and I was an Agent, I never lost my badge it was just placed on a hold you could say."

"Then consider it off hold. Romani knows who you are, do you have a safe place to be?" Stark asked.

"There's a motel I can stay in." Sweets said.

"Absolutely not. That is not safe or secure. There's a safe house that only I know about. You will stay there until this situation is handled." Stark said as he went into his filing cabinet and pulled out a key with an address on the back. He handed it to Sweets.

"Thank-you Sir."

"Agent Booth take Dr. Sweets there. Dr. Sweets you need to check in every six hours to Agent Booth so he knows you haven't been kidnapped or killed clear?"

"Yes Sir." Sweets answered.

"Get what you need and keep me posted. I will do the same to you. Let's get this one wrapped up quick and quietly the last thing we need is other Agents deciding to tell their friends about this. Now unless there is anything else we all have a lot of work to do." Stark said.

"That's all Sir. Thank-you for your time." Booth said.

"Thank-you for discovering this. Good luck and be safe the both of you." Stark said.

They all headed out of the office and into the elevator. They were alone in the elevator so Hacker spoke.

"You take Dr. Sweets to the safe house. I will gather all of the evidence and bring it to the Jeffersonian for you."

"Thanks I appreciate that. Angela has all of the case files and the names that you'll need. She can give it to you" Booth said.

"I'll call her on my way to the lab. And then I will see you at the Jeffersonian." Hacker said.

They headed out of the elevator and went their own way. Sweets handed Booth the key to the safe house so he could see the address. His voice hurt too much to talk right now. Booth understood and he just took off for the safe house address. It was a good thirty minutes before they arrived and once there Booth grabbed the metal case while Sweets grabbed his duffle bag. They headed inside and Booth unlocked the door. The house was very nice and had a security system which brought comfort to Booth. Booth placed the metal case down in the living room before he spoke.

"How are you feeling Sweets?"

"Sore and tired. Really tired." Sweets answered with barely a voice.

"You need to get some sleep Sweets. I'll call you in six hours to check in. Your best bet is to just rest and allow your body the sleep it needs so you're better tomorrow. I'll come by tonight with some food and I'll explain everything that we know so far. Aright?"

Sweets just gave a tired nod and Booth knew he wouldn't be awake for much longer.

"Do you want this out here?" Booth asked as he pointed to the metal case.

"It's fine." Sweets said.

"Alight lock up behind me and get some sleep. Call if something happens."

"I will. I promise. I'm just gonna sleep."

"Ok I'll see you tonight. I'm proud of you Sweets."

"Thanks Booth." Sweets said with a smile small.

Booth gave a smile back as he turned and headed out of the house and back to his SUV. He had a lot of work to do and he was determined to catch this bastard and end it once and for all for Sweets. Sweets locked up and made sure the alarm was on before he grabbed his duffle bag and headed up the stairs. He found the bathroom and a bedroom so he put his duffle bag down and grabbed a change of clothes to sleep in. Once he had a change of clothes he headed into the bathroom to take a hot bath to soothe his sore muscles before he would get some much needed sleep. He felt better knowing that now he wasn't the only one that knew his secret. Now he just needed to be ready to help put an end to Rasputin and the division once and for all. It was going to be painful, but this was something Sweets knew he had to do and he was going to make sure it happened. With that determination in mind he got into the hot water and allowed his body to finally rest.


	4. Follow Me- Update

Hello there!

I have begun a collection of new books for all ages from children's picture books to adult series that are being published online. You can connect with me and find out more information through my social media pages. I am working on finishing my novel called Satanic Inferno. It will be published through Kobo on March 1st, 2017. Check out my Facebook page for more information and a 10% discount code for the first few days of the release.

You have all followed me on Fanfiction and I am hoping you will continue to follow me now that I have transitioned into writing and publishing my own novels. But fear not I am still going to be working on Fanfiction and finishing all of my stories. I'm not going anywhere in that sense. All support would be greatly appreciated.

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